The Dangers of Being an Assassin
by Dancingqueen4Life
Summary: Follow Clint and Natasha through their dangerous lives. Will they survive the missions, bullets, poison, and domestic difficulties that force their way into their lives? Rating for language. Please R&R!
1. Bangladesh

**A/N: I know I should be writing more for my HP stories, but I keep getting ideas for more Natasha/Clint stories.**

**Hope you enjoy it. :)**

**Bangladesh**

Bullets were raining down on them, and amo was running out.

She looked to her right and saw him shooting arrows at the approaching army. He looked at her with a look that could only be described as fear.

Her split second of distraction meant that a few of the men were able to get a shot off at her. She looked back to her targets just as she felt something tug her arm and pull her behind a barrier, just in time to avoid getting a shot through her brain.

She looked up and saw Clint squatted next to her, his hand gripping her arm.

"Careful, Tash. Can't have my partner dying on me."  
He winked at her, and gave her a small smile before making to get up.

Natasha had second thought about that, and pulled his face back to hers, pressing her lips firmly to his. When they pulled apart, she rested her forehead against his, a grin tugging at both their faces.

"Don't you dare die on me, Clint. I'm not going through the process of trusting someone else. I also sure as hell didn't break SHIELDS rule about not sleeping with your partner to have said partner go die. So don't even think about it."

Clint smiled and nodded. He placed a quick kiss to her forehead, as the two of them popped up and continued shooting enemies down. Clint was getting desperate, retrieving arrows where he could. He looked around for a way out, or at least a way to thin out the enemies. That's when he saw it. A crate of C4 just behind a large group of them. No doubt they were planning to blow up the building, Clint thanked his lucky stars that Natasha had given him a new supply of exploding arrowheads.

"Widow, I'm shooting it."  
Natasha looked to where he was staring, and saw the crate he was looking at.

"You're insane Hawkeye!"  
He smiled at her in response, before nocking the exploding arrow.

"3…2…1…DOWN!"  
Natasha hit the ground just as Clint let the arrow fly. As soon as he shot it, he hit the ground next to her. Just as the explosion was dying down, Clint jumped up and grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet. They started running out of the alleyway, shooting down anyone in their way. They made it to the mouth of the alley, and paused to look behind them. Every one of the people that had been attacking them lay dead or unconscious on the ground. They shared a brief smile before turning and running back to the safe house they'd been staying in.

As they were running, Natasha felt something wet against her leg, coupled with pain in her lower thigh.

They made it back to the safe house without anyone following them. Clint looked down as he was unlocking the door, and caught sight of Natasha's suit.  
"Tasha, what the hell?"  
He looked at her face and saw that she was even paler than her usual complexion. Without thinking, he picked her up and carried her to the bedroom. He placed her on the bed, and went to retrieve the first aid kit that was kept in all the bathrooms in SHIELD safe houses.

When he re-entered the bedroom, he saw her lying on the bed, with her eyes closed.  
"Tasha! Come on Sweetie; open your eyes for me. Come on Sweetheart."

Natasha opened her eyes to a squint  
"Clint?"  
"Hey, Sweetie. Did the bullet leave your leg?"  
"Dunno."  
Clint nodded at her, before beginning to unzip her cat suit. He stopped suddenly, and left the room. He returned a moment later, carrying a bottle with a clear liquid.

"You're gonna be in some pain, so I figured I'd appeal to the Russian in you."  
She cracked a faint smile, and he helped her drink some of the vodka.

"You got the good stuff." She whispered.  
"Straight from Moscow."

He went back to unzipping her suit, and instructed her to drink more vodka. He carefully peeled her out of her suit, and started inspecting the bullet wound. He was relieved when he saw an exit wound, it would make his job easier. All he had to do was stop the bleeding. He'd called Coulson when they were on their way to the safe house, and had requested an extraction. They'd be out of here in the morning. He could extend her time at least that far, until the med team came.

He pulled a needle out of the kit, and splashed some vodka on it. He grabbed the lighter he always carried, and ran it over the tip of the needle until it was completely sanitized. He attached a piece of thread, and proceeded to stitch up the bullet wound. When he was done, he allowed a moment to admire his handiwork. He'd gotten good at stitches over the years, and he smiled as he realized that the scar would be minimal.

He grabbed a piece of gauze and wrapped it around the stitches. He chanced a glance at her face, and saw a faint smile playing at her lips.

"That all, Nat?"  
"I dunno. Something feels funny."  
"What do you mean funny?"  
Instead of replying, Natasha's eyes slipped closed. He placed his ear against her chest, and was only able to hear a faint pulse.  
"Tasha! Come on, babe. Don't do this, open your eyes. Come on Sweetie."

Natasha didn't respond. Clint was interrupted when he heard a thump by the front door.  
He grabbed his bow and nocked an arrow before going to investigate

"You gonna shoot me, Barton?"  
Phil Coulson was standing in front of him, a smirk on his face

"Where is she?"  
"Bedroom."  
"What's wrong with her?"  
"She was shot. I fixed it. But she said something else feels funny."  
"Did she say what she meant by that?"  
"She passed out right after, and she had a weak pulse. I think it might be internal."

Phil nodded, and the med team followed Clint to the bedroom. Natasha was lying on her back, and she was still unconscious. One of the med team personnel was doing an ultrasound on her abdomen, and found a pocket of blood.

"We need to get her to Medical. She needs surgery."  
Clint nodded, expecting as much. The decided it was safe to move her, and Clint insisted on carrying her to the quinjet.

He placed her on the stretcher they'd brought for her, and he went to buckle himself in.

The trip back to the hellicarrier seemed to take forever, and Clint was worried that they wouldn't make it in time to save her.

When they finally arrived, she was carted off to Medical, and Phil forced him to go to the debriefing room. Phil shot Clint a sympathetic look, and Clint was grateful, but he knew he needed to be debriefed. He just hoped Fury would debrief him quickly.

The debrief was mercifully short, although that was probably because Fury knew what was good for him. He made his way to Medical, and demanded to know how Natasha was doing. Usually, partners weren't allowed to see each other so soon after one went in for surgery. But most of the Medical team wasn't dumb enough to actually tell them they couldn't see each other. The doctor pointed to where the doctors were wheeling Natasha in.

"What happened?"  
"She had some internal bleeding, and we fixed it."  
"That shouldn't have taken that long. You were in there for _hours_."  
"Wile we were fixing the bleeding, we noticed that her appendix was inflamed, and close to rupturing. We removed it to avoid any possible side effects."  
"What do you mean close to rupturing?"  
"She had appendicitis. A remarkably bad case of it too. It's a miracle she was able to go on the mission."  
Clint nodded, suddenly very angry with her. He knew that she didn't like to show pain, but this was taking it way too far. If she hadn't needed surgery, her appendix could have ruptured. She could have _died_.

They put her in a bed, and left her alone with Clint.

"Sometimes you make me insane Tasha. You could have gotten yourself killed. Do you know that? Or do you just not care?"  
Clint was on the verge of tears-or he would be, if her were the kind of person who cried.

"Do you just not care about what you dying would do to me? You can't make someone fall in love with you and then go and almost die on them, Nat. It's not an acceptable social custom."  
He held her hand in his, and felt a single tear make its way down his face. He leaned in and gently pressed his lips to her cheek. He gently shifted her body so that he could lie next to her. It was technically against policy, but he knew that none of the doctors would make him move. Especially when his partner was the person he was lying next to. He noticed that some agents, and doctors too, were giving her bed a wide berth. Even when she was unconscious, Natasha Romanoff terrified the agents around her.

Clint sniggered as he wrapped his arms around her waist, being mindful of her new stitches, and pulled her body against his own. He pressed a kiss to her head- after making sure no one was looking- and closed his eyes. He slipped into sleep thinking of her newest bullet wound, and how, as soon as she was allowed to leave medical, he'd be able to 'kiss it better'. The thought made him smile, knowing that she was really going to be ok.

**Reviews are nice. I like them, so you should write one. :)**


	2. After Bangladesh

Natasha woke up in Medical a few hours later. She felt something in her nose, and moved her hand to remove it. Just as her hand was reaching her nose, someone's hand grabbed her wrist and tugged it back to her side.

"Not so fast hotshot." Natasha looked over to where the voice was coming from, and saw her partner sitting next to her.

"Clint. Hey"

She heard her voice and flinched internally. She sounded _high_. Which she probably was. She finally realized that she was in Medical, and the thing in her nose was oxygen.

"Hey yourself." Clint was smiling at her, but she could tell it wasn't a real smile. "What happened?"  
"You got shot."  
"I remember you fixing that though."  
"You said something felt weird, the med team found that you had internal bleeding, so we got you back here." She nodded, still slightly confused  
"You went in for surgery, and that's when they saw it."  
"It?"  
"Your appendix." Natasha just looked at him. Her face was blank, and Clint couldn't tell if she was trying to play dumb or not.

"Don't give me that look, Natasha." Natasha, ouch. He was _mad_.

"I don't know what you're talking about, Clint."  
"Yes you do, Natasha. Look, I get that you think you need to prove that you're stronger than everyone, but shit, Natasha, you could have _died_. Do you not get that?"  
"Do I not get _what_, Clint?" Clint sighed and stood up, and began pacing in front of her bed.

"I'm all for you being stronger than everyone else, but when you take it to extremes like this- Natasha, you're not invincible!"  
"What did I do?" Natasha's voice hinted that she was losing control, and was going to start crying.

"What did I do, Clint?"  
"They had to take your appendix out. It was inflamed, and about to rupture."  
"Oh."  
"What do you mean, oh? Do you realize that if it ruptured, and we couldn't get you to a hospital in time, you would have died?"  
"I didn't know that's what it was!"  
"How did you not know? And why didn't you say anything? I've had to get mine taken out, I know how painful it is. Why didn't you tell me?" Clint's voice sounded hurt, as tough he thought she didn't trust him enough to tell him when she was in pain.

"I thought the Red Room took care of it."  
"Took care of it?"  
"I thought they took it out. They did everything they could to make sure that I was always able to go on missions. I just always assumed they took it out to. God knows they took everything else." Clint stopped pacing, and made his way back to her bed. He sat on the edge, and placed his hand under her chin and pulled her face up to look at him. What he saw in her eyes nearly tore his heart out.

Ghosts of her past were shining in her eyes. She no longer looked like the fierce assassin she was. Instead, she looked like a scared little girl. Like the little girl he knew she'd been.

As she looked into his eyes, she decided to tell her partner about her past.

"They saw me with my family, and decided they wanted me. So they staged a car wreak that killed my parents. They made sure my parents didn't die quickly; they weren't that kind. I was in the car as I watched my parents bleed out in front of me. They came to the orphanage I was at, and took four or five of us. I was only 6 years old." She stopped long enough to let out a wry laugh before continuing, she was whispering, and Clint had to strain to hear her. She'd told him some of this, but nothing with this much detail. "They introduced me to the Red Room way of life, where there was only one rule- failure means death. There were 11 other girls with me. Our first day, three of them were killed. One girl sneezed while the instructor was talking, another tripped while going through an obstacle course, and the last was caught crying.

"The first few years were easy enough-compared to what the final years would bring. After 5 years, and 2 more dead girls, It was determined that I was special. I got private lessons in seduction, resisting poison, and gymnastics." Her eyes lit up at the mention of gymnastics, and Clint knew that she had always loved it.

"I went on missions starting when I was 13. They were easy enough, simple smash and grabs. But when I turned 14, everything changed, there were only three other girls, along with myself. We were sent on a mission to rob a wealthy heiress. Or, they were. I was told that my mission was to wait until they had completed the robbery, and then I had to kill them." Clint's sharp intake of breath caused Natasha's eyes to flicker back to his face. He looked absolutely livid.

"I did what I was told. The first two were easy enough; I was able to shoot them from a distance. Right through the head. That's when I decided that I would be merciful when I could. I wouldn't make them suffer, not like my parents. The last girl, Raya, was the one girl I got close to in the Red Room. We were the best of the girls in our year. We even became friends, although we didn't want to.

She saw the other girls, and knew what was coming. I came up behind her, and she turned around. She handed me the jewelry they'd just taken, and I took it from her. She looked me in the eyes, and _asked_ me to kill her. She said she was tired of being groomed; she just wanted to go where her parents and baby sister were." Natasha was openly crying, but shook her head when Clint tried to hug her.

"I need to finish, Clint." Clint nodded, and Natasha continued.

"Her last words were 'Taley, please. Just let me go. Get me out of this. Let me go to my family. I just want to go back to my mom.' I nodded, and told her I was sorry. And I was. She had been the one person I let myself care about after we were taken. She whispered 'I know.' Then she nodded. I closed my eyes, and shot. When I finally opened my eyes, she was lying on the ground with a hole in her head, and her eyes closed. I went over to her, and kissed her cheek. I told her I was sorry, and that if she saw my parents, she had to tell them that I was sorry for what I became. Then I stood up and walked away. I killed my only friend, and I was only able to cry a single tear. I couldn't let anyone know I had cried, or I could be killed too. I made my way back to the facility, and to my room. I was 14, and I was already a killer. I had nightmares for the next three years, of all the faces of people I killed. "They took my childhood, my innocence, my humanity, and my desire to live. It only makes sense that they'd take out the unnecessary things too." Natasha was still crying, but she allowed Clint to pull her into a hug.

"I only told you this because I'm high on morphine. You know that, right?"  
Clint chuckled "Yeah, I know."

Clint stretched out next to her on the bed, and when she curled into his side, his hand rubbed circles on her back.

He heard the doors open, and looked up to see Phil, Fury, and Agent Hill making their way to her bed. Phil caught Clint's eye, and Clint shook his head. Natasha had fallen asleep, and Clint didn't want people waking her up. Phil turned to Fury, and by the looks of it, had persuaded the director to postpone the questions until Natasha was out of Medical. Fury shot a look at Clint, and Clint looked back at him, his face as blank as he could make it.

Natasha left Medical four days later. Clint waited outside the debriefing room for her, and when she finally emerged, looking very tired, he grabbed her hand, and led her to his nest.

They sat in the training center, high above everyone else. Even if people had been able to see the two of them, no one would be able to hear them.

"I told you everything, didn't I?" Clint nodded, and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. She leaned her head against in shoulder, and he pressed a quick kiss to the top of her head.

"But I think you lied about part of it. You said they took your humanity." Natasha nodded at this, and Clint sighed  
"You wouldn't have agreed to come to SHIELD if your humanity was gone." Natasha looked at him, before nodding in agreement  
"Fine. They took most of my humanity. Clint, it got to the point where I didn't care who I killed, or where I killed them. I killed parents in front of their children. I watched as I created more orphans, more children that would end up like me."  
"But you got some of it back. Now you only kill people when they deserve it. Yes, you have a lot of red in your ledger, but we're going to wipe it out. Together." Natasha looked into his eyes, and nodded. Clint watched as the scared little girl left Natasha's eyes, replaced with the fiery woman he knew his partner was.

She shifted her position so that she was straddling his lap. She pressed her lips to his, and responded in a whisper

"Together." Clint nodded, before kissing her again. This time, Clint allowed the passion to flow freely, and before long, the two assassins were gasping for breath.

Natasha leaned in and placed her lips to his ear

"We should get out of here. Don't want the newbies to see us." She pulled back with a wink, before standing up, and offering her hand to help him up. He followed her down from the nest, and down the halls to her SHIELD issued quarters.

When they entered her room, Clint pushed her against the door and kissed her deeply. He broke away to whisper in her ear

"And when all the red is gone, we'll stay together and make sure the red stays gone." Natasha pulled back and smiled at him. She threw her arms around his neck, and buried her face in the corner created by his neck and shoulder.

"Thank you."

Clint lifted her off the ground and carried her to the bed. He lay down next to her, and pulled her snuggly against his chest. She wrapped her arms firmly around his waist, and breathed in his scent.

She allowed her eyes to close as she was lulled into sleep by the steady breaths of her partner, and his hand tracing patterns on his back.

She slept soundly in her hawk's arms that night.

**A/N: So here's the second chapter. I'm still not sure how I feel about this story, but I'll keep writing it until people tell me that it sucks.**

**Reviews are nice. You should write one. :)**


	3. Kiev

**Kiev**

Natasha lunged at him, but he ducked just in time

"Is that the best you've got, Romanoff?"

She was sweaty, she was sore, and she was tired, but she wasn't going to tell him that.

"I could go all day."  
"Actually, Tash, you can't. Fury wants us at 2:00, remember?"  
Natasha sighed, and stepped over to her bag, and took a long drink from her water bottle. She'd been out of medical for a month, and Clint had been helping her get back in shape. She could have worked with a trainer, but she preferred Clint. He knew her better than anyone, and he knew better than to try to make her take it easy.

Clint came up to her, and whispered in her ear

"I can think of something else that counts as exercise." He said suggestively.

Natasha laughed, "We have to be in Fury's office at 2:00. That's in 20 minutes Clint."  
"That's more than enough time. Come shower with me, Tasha." He lightly bit her earlobe, before turning and walking away.

She looked around, and seeing that no one was in the training center, she picked up his t-shirt, which he'd left behind on purpose- they were getting good at finding ways to get together while on the hellicarrier-, and made her way to the men's locker rooms, under the guise of giving him his clothes.

When she entered, she heard the shower running, and saw Clint standing by his locker. She made her way over to him, and pressed herself into his back

"Is anyone in here?"  
"Nope. Lock the door, yeah?"

She nodded, and made her way back to the door. She slid the lock closed, and went back to her partner. She threw his shirt in his locker, and dropped her bag on the floor. They stripped, and Clint pressed a heated kiss to her lips, before breaking away and moving his lips across her jaw and down her throat. She grabbed his hand, and pulled him over to the shower, where the water was already warm.

They emerged 15 minutes later, and dressed hurriedly, before unlocking the door, and turning back to the door that lead into the hall, rather than the training center. They ran down the halls, and people jumped out of their way without having to be told to do so. Everyone was terrified of Natasha, and the determined look on her face wasn't endearing her to anyone, which was fine by her.

They raced through the hellicarrier, before making it to Fury's office right as the clock changed to 2:00.

Fury opened the door for them, and ushered them in.

"You're late."  
"Sorry, sir. Agent Barton finally let me go all out at sparring today, and we lost track of time. Won't happen again, sir."  
Fury gave Natasha a look that clearly said he knew what they'd been up to, he didn't care, and that they'd be late again.

"Why did you want a meeting with us, sir? Do you have a mission?"  
Fury looked over at Clint, and nodded. The assassins sat down, and Fury began to speak.

"You'll both be headed to Kiev. There's a drug dealer that needs to be taken out. He's making new kinds of drugs that are more addictive, and we can't let them on the streets.

Agent Romanoff, it's your job to get close to the man. Do what ever you have to, just don't sleep with the man."  
"Can I kill him, sir?"  
Fury chuckled at Natasha's usual question while learning about a new mission

"After you get the information you need, yes. Make sure he's dead, and you have the drugs before you leave. Agent Barton, you'll be serving as backup to Agent Romanoff. Keep your eyes on her, and don't let her get killed."  
Both agents nodded, and Fury continued

"Good. Now, Agent Romanoff, are any of your other organs in danger of exploding while you're on this mission?"  
Clint laughed at Fury's question, and the obvious teasing hidden in his tone, while Natasha answered with a straight face

"None that I can't deal with, sir."  
Clint's laughter stopped as he heard the innuendo in her voice, but judging by the look of Fury's face, he hadn't heard it. Hopefully.

Clint chanced a glance at his partner, and found that although she was staring straight ahead, she had a mischievous grin on her face.

Fury looked at both of them before concluding the information session

"Very well. You'll be gone three weeks. Go pack. Wheels up in 2 hours."  
"Yes, sir."  
They stood up and left, and made their way to their room. Since they were partners, they shared a room. It had a small kitchen, a small living room with a small TV, a bathroom that was a decent size, and two bedrooms, both with larger beds than normal agents received.

Clint firmly believed that Phil had had something to do with that.

They went into their bedrooms to pack, and called out random questions about their cover ids to each other. It was a game they had started long ago, and it helped them solidify their cover stories. Natasha was almost finished packing when Clint asked her a question that had nothing to do with their covers

"Nat, did you steal some of my clothes?"  
"What are you talking about, Clint?"  
"I had more t-shirts than this, and my favorite boxers are missing."  
"You have a favorite pair of boxers? Are you a girl or something, Clint?"  
"You're deflecting. Did you steal my shirts and boxers?"  
"I don't see them in here, so..."  
"What's the 'here' you're referring to?"  
"My bedroom, Clint. I don't see your precious underpants in my bedroom."  
She smiled to herself as she finished zipping her bag. She hadn't been lying, the boxers and t-shirts were under the rest of her clothes, and she technically couldn't see them.

Clint sighed, but finished packing anyways. When he was done, he came into Natasha's room, and stepped behind her, his hands instantly going to her chest. She sighed a little, but shook her head and pushed his hands away.

"We have to go, Clint."  
"We have time."  
"No, we don't. You spent over an hour searching for your boxers. We have to go."  
"Tasha." Clint whined

She sighed, before turning around in his arms, so that they were facing each other.

"Later, I promise."  
His eyes lit up, and Natasha stopped him before he could get the words out

"Later as in after we get settled in the safe house."  
He gave her a petulant look, which caused her to laugh. She pressed her lips quickly and gently to his own, before slipping out of his grasp and making her way out of the room.

They walked in silence, and although Clint desperately wanted to reach out and hold her hand, he resisted, knowing that it would annoy her. And they really didn't need the rumors to start again.

They made it to the hanger with a few minutes to spare, and got onto the plane, not at all surprised to find Phil already seated, waiting for them.

They sat down and buckled themselves in. When the door finally closed, Clint reached his hand out and placed it on Natasha's knee, squeezing it gently. She turned her head to look at him, and leaned in to kiss his cheek.

Phil rolled his eyes, but didn't comment. He knew about everything that had happened in Bangladesh, and he knew that the two were more than partners, and teased them about it on occasion. They settled in for the flight, and soon Natasha fell asleep with her head on Clint's shoulder.

Natasha felt something warm and rough touching her cheek, and when she opened her eyes, she found Clint staring back at her, his hand on her cheek.

"Time to wake up, Sleeping Beauty. We're almost to the drop zone."  
Natasha nodded, and unbuckled her seatbelt, instantly awake. Clint envied her ability to be alert so soon after waking up, since it usually took him about 10 minutes. She walked over to Clint, who buckled her into her parachute, and the two made their way to the door, after a few words from Phil

"Make sure to check in when you get to the house. You have two days to get settled before Natasha has to infiltrate the mark's organization." He paused, going through everything in his head checking to see if he forgot anything, when he added "and make sure that no organs rupture. This isn't as easy as the last time, and we won't be able to get to you quickly."  
He chuckled to himself, while Natasha rolled her eyes. She was never going to live it down, but she didn't care, not really.

The door opened, and Clint's hand reached out quickly to squeeze hers. She looked at him, and quickly pressed her lips to his, before the two bid farewell to their handler, and jumped out of the plane.

They landed moments later, and quickly made their way through the forest to the house. As with most SHIELD safe houses, it was small, one bedroom, on bathroom, with a kitchen, a fireplace, and a couch.

They dropped their things on the bed, and Clint called Coulson to check in. When he was done, he reentered the bedroom, and found Natasha pulling on his t-shirt and favorite boxers.

"You're a liar!"  
Natasha turned around with a smile on her face

"Technically, I'm not."  
"You said you didn't take them!"  
"I said I didn't _see_ them. And I didn't, because they were under the rest of my clothes."  
He mentally reviewed their conversation, and found that she was right. He sighed, but made his way over to her. He grabbed her hips, and slammed his lips to hers, allowing the passion to flow.

When they finally broke apart, they were panting, and they leaned their foreheads together, lips barely separated

"It's later, Tash."  
She chuckled, but nodded anyways. He walked backwards toward the bed, tugging her hips for her to follow. He fell onto the bed, and she fell on top of him, and pressed their lips together. Their clothes were shed quickly, and Clint rolled so he was hovering over her, his arms bearing most of his weight. He pressed open mouth kisses along her cheek, down to her jaw, down her throat, and as he got lower and lower, her breaths became shorter and shorter. By the time he reached her sternum, she was panting, and then he was moving his mouth freely over her chest, and _oh,_ that felt _good._

They lay together later, with Natasha's head resting on his chest, while his hand drew patterns on her back. She snuggled closer to him, allowing his arm to press her firmly into his side.

"I know exactly what we're doing on our two days to 'get settled'."

"Oh, you do, Tash? What are we doing?"  
"We're not leaving the bed."  
She smiled as she lightly trailed her hand lower on his chest, until she was toying with the sheet that hovered just above his waist, and laughed softly when he gasped at her ministrations.

"I think I like that plan a whole lot, Tash. But we have to do _some _work. I'm not sending you in to infiltrate a drug operation without doing a _little_ surveillance first.

She sighed, but agreed that some work would need to get done. Until then, however, she was determined not to let him out of bed.

**So, this chapter isn't really about the mission, but since I'm not planning on anyone dying or whatever on this mission, I figured I could focus a little on their time before and at the start of the mission. But don't worry; the next chapter will be full of action. I hope.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	4. Kiev pt2

**Kiev pt. 2**

"Alright, Widow. Remember, grab the package, and get out. Kill the mark if he gets in your way. But I'm blowing the building, so get out."  
"Hawkeye, _shut up._"  
Natasha was getting annoyed with Clint. She knew he was just being helpful, that he was looking out for her, and she appreciated it, she really did. But she knew how to do her job, and she didn't need him breathing down her neck.

She made it to the door of the building, and waited a moment before opening it and slipping in. She got into a corner, and as the first guard passed her spot, she reached out and snapped his neck, without alerting any other guards to her position. She made her way through the building, killing or knocking out anyone who got in her way. She finally made it to the mark's office, and walked in calmly. The drug lord looked up, surprised to see what his newest employee was wearing.

"Can I help you?"  
Natasha chuckled internally, as if that man could actually do anything for her. He'd tried coming on to her, and she'd let him, but she refused to sleep with him. Judging by the look on his face, he thought she'd changed her mind on his offer.

"You can give me the drugs."  
"And why would I do that?"  
"Because I told you to."

Natasha pulled one of her guns out, and pointed it at his head.

"You really think you can rob me?"  
"Oh, I know I can."

He had just enough time to give her a look, before she moved her gun, and shot him in the leg.

"Where are the drugs?"  
He wasn't going to answer her, but his eyes flickered to the left slightly, and that told Natasha everything she needed to know. She made her way to where he'd looked, and found a wall safe. She thought for a moment, before entering his birthday as the code. She chuckled softly as the safe clicked open  
"I'd tell you to pick a different way to remember your code, but you won't be alive long enough to need that advice."  
The drug lord had the decency look a little scared. Natasha grabbed the drugs, and shut the safe, making sure it locked again.

She made her way back to the man with a smirk on her face. She leaned down and whispered in his ear

"Next time, you might want to just give up the drugs. Oh, wait, there's not going to be a next time."  
She pulled back, and kissed his cheek. Then she reached out and snapped his neck.

She stood up, and made her way out of the office. A few new guards made their way to her, but she knocked them out easily enough.

She made it out of the building shortly thereafter.

"Hawkeye, time?"  
She heard a chuckle in her ear

"5 minutes and 38 seconds, Widow."  
"Damn. 30 seconds longer than my best."  
Another chuckle, this one louder than the last

"Well, if you hadn't made out with him, you could have beaten your time."  
"Shove it, I only kissed his cheek. And for all the time he spent coming on to me, I figured he deserved a little something."  
Clint growled into the comm link, and although he'd never say it, Natasha knew what he was thinking

_You're mine. No one else gets to kiss you._

He knew she'd kill him if he ever said that, but she knew it was how he felt. And if she were being honest with herself, she'd say that it kind of turned her on.

She was thinking about all the alone time they could get after this mission. It was SHIELD policy that agents got at least a week off after missions, before being sent out into the field again.

That's when she heard it

"What are you-"  
Then a loud thump. Then nothing.

"Hawkeye?"

Silence.

"Hawkeye!"

Still nothing.

"Oi, bird brain!"

Silence.

_Shit. This isn't good._

Natasha ran to the opposite building Clint had been on. When she looked up, she saw someone on the roof, someone who clearly wasn't Clint. She raised her gun, and shot him in the leg. He went down, and Natasha knew he wasn't getting off the roof without her hearing it. When she looked around for Clint, she saw him lying on the sidewalk.

"Shit. Hawkeye!"  
She ran to where he was laying, and rolled him onto his back.

He groaned in response, and the sound was sweet relief to Natasha. A groan meant he wasn't dead.

"Hey, hotshot."  
"Tasha?"  
"What the hell happened?"  
"He snuck up on me, shoved me off."  
"Is anything broken?"  
"My shoulder feels dislocated, and my ankle hurts."

Natasha nodded, before helping him up into a sitting position. She went into the building, looking for the man from the roof.

She made it to the roof where she found him. He was lying in a puddle of his blood, but he wasn't dead yet.

"The famous Black Widow. Coming to avenge your boyfriend?"  
Natasha sighed, and made her way over to the man. She saw that he was the mark's head of security, no doubt the reason he knew who she was.

She leaned down, and snapped his neck quickly. She was really getting annoyed with the marks having so many security personnel.

She made her way back down the stairs, and found him trying to stand up. She walked over and helped him up, and draped his arm over her shoulder so he could put some of his weight on her shoulder. They made their way to the safe house, and arrived shortly thereafter. Clint found that once he'd started moving, he was able to ignore the pain in his ankle.

She sat him down on the bed, and pulled his shoes and vest off. She inspected his ankle, and wrapped it, determining that it was only sprained. She made her way back to his shoulder, and looked it over

"Definitely dislocated."  
"Gee, ya think?"  
Natasha laughed quietly and pressed her lips gently to his shoulder.

"Tasha?"  
"Mmm?"  
"As much as I love your policy of kissing it better, my shoulder is still dislocated."  
Natasha laughed, before placing one hand on the front of his shoulder, and the other on his forearm. She kissed his shoulder one last time, before tugging his arm back into place.

Clint felt the pop before he heard it, and cursed in every language he could think of.

"Don't be such a baby." Natasha joked. Clint shot her a look, before cracking a smile.

Natasha left to call Phil to request an extraction, while Clint changed into his pajamas, knowing extraction would be until the next day. Natasha came back into the bedroom, and changed into her pajamas, before climbing onto the bed.

She crawled onto his lap, and kissed him soundly. His hands dropped to her waist and pulled her closer to his body. She shifted so that she was straddling his lap, and pressed her body firmly against his. He tore his mouth away from hers, and trailed his mouth down her neck, making sure to leave a decent sized hickey right in the middle of her neck, where she'd never be able to hide it.

His mouth moved down to her collarbone, and began sucking and kissing there. She ran her hands over his chest, slightly glad he'd hurt his shoulder, since it meant he couldn't put a shirt on.

His hands had just started creeping under her tank top, when they heard someone at the door clearing their throat.

They tore themselves away from each other, and looked up to find Coulson standing in the doorway, blushing slightly, but trying to scowl at them.

"You guys want to get home, or do you want to finish your, uh, activities?"  
This wasn't the first time he'd walked in on them, or even the most awkward- to put it lightly, Phil had seen more of Clint and Natasha than he'd ever wanted to- but he always blushed when he caught them.

Natasha adjusted her tank top, and tried to climb off Clint's lap, but he grabbed her arm and gave her a look. She chuckled to herself, but didn't get off his lap, and when she shifted on his lap, she immediately understood why he didn't want her to move. Her eyes widened slightly, and her eyes met Clint's who winked at her. Phil made another noise to let them know he was still there.

"We'll be right down, Phil."  
"Take your time, Romanoff."  
He left the room, making his way back to the living room.

Clint leaned back in, and pressed his mouth to her neck, on the opposite side from the newest hickey. She sighed as Clint started sucking her neck again, when she remembered that Coulson was in the living room

"Clint. Sto- oh."  
Clint chuckled against her neck, before flicking his tongue out to lick her neck.

"Why, Tasha?"  
"Clint. Coulson's sitting on the couch."  
Clint finally pulled away from her neck, and stared at her

"So?"  
"Clint, he'll hear us. Besides, this bed is one of the most uncomfortable I've ever been on."  
Clint sighed "Fine, but you owe me when we return to HQ."  
"Deal."  
Natasha pulled herself off of him, and put on more respectable clothing.

5 minutes later, the two assassins met their handler in the living room. Phil looked them over, before sighing and addressing Clint

"Would it kill you to put a shirt on, Barton?"  
"Actually, yes it would."  
Phil gave him a confused look, which Clint answered

"Dislocated shoulder."  
Coulson nodded, before pulling a jacket out of the bag by his feet, he held it out to Clint, who took it. When he tried to put it on, he grimaced as his shoulder moved in a particularly painful manner. Natasha took the jacket from him, and helped him into it, before zipping it up.

Satisfied, Phil led the agents out of the hose and to the nearby plane. They sat down and settled in for the flight. As soon as the plane was off the ground, they both fell asleep, not to wake up until they arrived back at the hellicarrier.

They went into the debriefing room, where they went over every detail of the mission before Fury dismissed them. When they were done, they made their way to medical to get Clint checked over.

They gave him a sling to keep his shoulder in place, but Natasha knew that he wouldn't use it. When they had taken care of everything, they made their way back to their quarters. As soon as the door closed, they were back to their earlier activities.

Natasha trailed her mouth down his throat and began sucking at his neck; in the same place he'd given her a hickey.

"Tasha, what ar- oh, that feels nice."  
"I'm making sure you have the same marks I do." She growled into his throat, before kissing his mouth again.

He let his hands fall to her hips, and tugged her closer to him as he made his way to one of the bedrooms.

She gently tugged him out of the jacket, and when he tried to reach for her top, she batted his hand away

"You're hurt. Let me do the work." She purred in his ear.

He sighed and nodded, allowing her to tug his pants down. When both of their clothes were finally off, she pushed him onto the bed, before crawling on top of him, and pressing her body against his, as her mouth traveled across his chest and up his throat, sucking as she went.

When their lips finally met, she ground her hips into his, and he couldn't help the moan that escaped his mouth.

It was going to be a wonderful night.

**And that's the end of their time in Kiev. Hope you guys are ok with the lack of someone dying… it gets depressing when my favorite characters keep almost dying.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	5. Cape Town

**Cape Town**

"Don't do this, Tasha."  
"Clint, it hurts." She sounded so weak, so helpless that it broke his heart.  
"I know, Tash. But don't do this; what am I going to tell Ali if you don't come home?"  
Images flashed in her mind's eye:

A little girl, bright red curls blowing in the wind, her gray-blue eyes shining while she laughed.  
Their daughter.  
Aliya Rose Barton was everything to them. She loved them, no matter what they'd done in the past.

Natasha clung to the memories and images of her little girl.

She clung to them until the medical team arrived.  
She clung to them until they arrived at the nearest SHIELD base.  
She clung to them until the drugs knocked her out for her numerous surgeries.

* * *

She woke up some time later, but how much later, she couldn't tell. She determined, based on the décor of the room that she was in the medical bay of whatever SHIELD base they were at. She looked around the room, and saw Clint in a chair by her bed, head resting next to her hand.

She gently moved her hand, trying to get him to wake up. When he lifted his head and slowly opened his eyes, he smiled when he saw her awake.

He stood up and got her some water, knowing that her throat would be bothering her. She drank it gratefully, finishing the entire cup before attempting to speak.

"Hey, handsome."  
Clint smiled at her and reached his hand out to brush her cheek. "Hey, gorgeous."

"How long was I out?"  
"About a week."  
She didn't need to speak, the surprise on her face saying everything for her.

"You lost a lot of blood, your heart stopped four times on the flight to base." He had to pause for a moment; the memories of the heart monitor announcing her death were haunting him.

Natasha grabbed his hand and squeezed reassuringly, urging him to continue.

"You had six bullets lodged in various places in your abdomen, and they had to do multiple surgeries to take care of everything. They finished everything yesterday."  
Natasha nodded, or tried to. But she found that any movement was nearly excruciating.

Clint noticed the grimace on her face, and gave her a weak smile.

"You need to relax, Tash. Sleep, then we can go home, ok?"  
His words brought the memories back to her, and she felt bad for not asking about their daughter sooner.

"Where is she? Where's Ali?"  
"Ali's fine. She's still with Pepper and Tony. I called and told them what happened, and that we'd explain everything when we got home. I also talked to Ali, and told her that we loved her, and we'd see her soon. Now sleep."  
Natasha squeezed his hand gently, just about the only movement that didn't make her feel like she was going to die, and allowed her eyelids to drift close.

* * *

The next time she woke up, Natasha felt much better. Still sore as hell, but better nonetheless.  
She opened her eyes and found Clint staring at her.

"Hey, gorgeous."  
"Hey, handsome. Can I go home yet?"  
"Yeah. We've got a plane that will take us to the hellicarrier, but Hill doesn't want us leaving for the tower for a few days after that."  
"What? I want to see my daughter!"  
"Tasha, don't worry. You know Maria loves Ali, so she said after our first day back on the hellicarrier, Ali can come visit so we can see her."  
Natasha nodded, and was pleased to find that it didn't hurt nearly as much as it had before. She slowly sat up and allowed Clint to help her to her feet.

She took the clothes he offered, and changed into them, happy to have something comfy to wear instead of the annoying hospital gown.

Clint took her hand, and led her from the room to the receptionist desk, where Natasha demanded to be discharged.

The receptionist knew enough about the two agents in front of her to not argue, and instead had Natasha sign a few papers, before telling them to go to the flight deck, where a plane would be waiting for them.

They stepped onto the plane and made their way to two seats near the back of the plane. Natasha rested her head against Clint's shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her gently, but securely, into his side, where she promptly fell asleep.

Clint nudged her awake later, telling her that they were almost to the hellicarrier. She set about getting ready to leave the plane, wanting the next day to pass quickly.

When the landed, the doors opened, and Natasha found that she needn't have worried about the next day passing quickly. Just as she stepped from the plane onto the flight deck, she heard a shout.

"мама!"  
Natasha turned her head in the direction the shout had come from, and couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she saw her daughter running across the deck towards her.

She knelt down slightly, opening her arms for the 5-year-old to run into. Ali crashed into her mother with enough force to have Clint place his arm on her back to keep her from falling over.

Natasha didn't notice, happy to finally be hugging her daughter again. She wrapped her arms tightly around the little girl, and stood up, pulling the little girl off the ground.

Ali's legs twined around Natasha's waist, and she buried her face in her mother's neck, never wanting to let go.

"Я скучал по тебе, мама."*  
"Я скучал по тебе тоже, Алия. Я так скучал по тебе, мой маленький ангел."**

Clint pulled both girls into his arms, hugging them tightly. He kissed the top of Aliya's head, and when she looked up at him, he softly kissed the tip of her nose, causing the little girl to break into giggles.

The three of them made their way into the hellicarrier, where they ran into Pepper and Tony.

Pepper carefully hugged Natasha, who refused to let go of her daughter.

"It's so good to see you, Tasha."  
"Thanks, Pepper. It's good to see you too."  
They were about to continue inside, when they noticed that Pepper and Tony weren't following them.  
"Are you guys coming?"  
"No. We just decided to bring Ali a little early, but we left Clara and Abbie with Rhodey, so we need to get home."  
Natasha nodded, and the family bid Pepper and Tony goodbye.

They walked through the halls, ignoring the looks from some of the agents. Most of them knew not to stare at the Black Widow or Hawkeye, but there were new agents who hadn't learned yet, as well as some people who were shocked to see Natasha carrying a child. It was common knowledge that she and Clint were married, but nobody could really remember when she'd been pregnant.

They turned down the hallway to the debriefing room. They wanted to spend time with Ali, but they knew that debriefs were essential. They stepped into the office, and Maria looked shocked to see them.

"What are you guys doing here?"  
"Debrief. Kind of important, isn't it?"  
"Very funny, Clint. But really, why are you here?"  
"We have to be."  
"I guess nobody told you, Fury heard that Tony and Pepper snuck her on the ship, and decided to give you guys time to spend together. Clint told us enough of what happened when you were out, so we're good for now. We'll do a formal debrief later."  
Natasha nodded, and turned to leave the room.

"I'm assuming you don't remember much?"  
She turned back around and shook her head at their handler.

"Sorry. I remember before and after I woke up the first time."  
Maria nodded, and dismissed Clint and Natasha.

They made their way to the apartment they shared on the hellicarrier, complete with two bedrooms and a small living room.

Ali had fallen asleep, so they took her into the spare room, and laid her on the bed. Natasha sat next to her daughter and watched her as she slept, never wanting to leave her daughter again.

She'd been considering retiring for a while now. She and Clint had enough money from their days before SHIELD to live comfortably, and she could probably get a consulting gig if she got bored.

When Clint came in to sit next to Natasha, she decided to finally share her thoughts with him, and was surprised to find that he thought it would be good for Natasha to be at home more.  
They reached an agreement, and decided that Natasha would become a consultant, and go on missions only when there was no alternative, while Clint would remain a functional agent. They would also request not to go on too many missions together, just in case something happened, so that Ali would always have at least one parent.

When Ali woke from her nap, they made their way to Fury's office, and asked Maria to keep an eye on Ali while they talked to Fury.

To their surprise, Fury wasn't too pissed off that Natasha was choosing to spend less time in the field. He told them that he'd get started on the paperwork, and send it off to Natasha when it was time for her to sign it.

As they left the office, Fury followed them out to say hi to Ali.

"Hello, Miss. Barton."  
"Hello, Mr. Fury."  
Ali made her way over to the SHIELD director and held her arms out for a hug. Fury obliged, hugging the girl tightly. For as tough as he appeared, Fury really was a big softie when it came to his two best agents and their daughter.

He sent the family on their way, telling them that they could head back to the tower whenever they wanted. They nodded, and made their way to the flight deck.

"Ali, how would you like it if I spent more time at home with you? If I didn't go on missions all the time?"  
"Really, мама?"  
"Really, Алия."  
"It would make me happy. What about папа? Will he stop missions too?"  
"'Fraid not, Алия. I'll keep going on missions, until I get too old."  
Aliya's face fell, and Natasha leaned down to pick her up. She held her daughter tightly, and gently smoothed her hair.

They were quiet the rest of the way to the plane that was waiting to take them to the tower. Natasha sat on one of the seats, and pulled Ali into her lap while Clint sat next to her.

"папа?"  
"Yeah, ребенок?"  
"Will you be careful on your missions?"  
"Of course I will, ребенок. I'll always be careful."  
Ali thought this over, and nodded, apparently pleased with his response. She held her arms out to him, and he pulled her from her mother's lap so that she was sitting on his lap instead. She turned herself so that she faced Natasha, and leaned her head on her father's chest. Clint ran his fingers through her hair, noting that her hair felt the exact same as Natasha's hair. He kissed the top of Ali's head, and leaned back to rest his head on the wall of the plane.

About an hour later, Natasha pulled him from the sleep he'd drifted into.

"Hey, we're almost home. Come on, time to get up."  
She took Ali from him, so that he could stand up and stretch his legs. As soon as the plane landed, Natasha, Clint and Ali walked out of the plane, and made their way from the tower's helipad into the building. They were greeted by the rest of the team and the smell of pizza. They joined their friends at the table, and everyone began to eat.  
Natasha looked around the table, at all their friends. They'd become a family since the New York incident. As Natasha's eyes fell on Ali talking animatedly to Clara and Thor and Jane's daughter, Mja, she smiled.  
When she met Clint's eyes, he could easily see what she was thinking.

_I don't want to miss any of this._

Clint smiled at his wife, knowing she made the right decision.

**So this is extremely fluffy. I'd tell you I'm sorry for it, but I'm really not. I love the fluffy bits of their relationship. **

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**

**Russian:  
*I missed you mommy.  
**I missed you too, Aliya. I missed you so much, my little angel.**


	6. New York

**I know this is kind of short, but hopefully, it's still good.**

**New York**

This shouldn't have been able to happen. Once, that was understandable. But twice? That just shouldn't have been able to happen.

But as Natasha looked down at the tiny baby sleeping peacefully in her arms, she was forced to admit that it had been possible.

Anja Lily Barton was one of the most beautiful babies Natasha had ever seen. The other being Anja's older sister, Aliya.

"She's gorgeous, Tash."  
Natasha's eyes flickered up to her husband, and she nodded softly.

"I can't believe she's here. I always thought the Red Room took this away from me."  
"They tried, Tash, but you're stronger than them. You know that."  
Natasha smiled and nodded as she placed a kiss on the baby's head.

"You want to go get Ali? I think she's dying to meet her sister."  
Clint nodded, kissed Natasha's head, and left the room to get their 6-year-old daughter.

When they entered the room, Clint set Ali on the bed, and the little girl made her way to her mother.

"Is that my sister, мама?"

Natasha nodded. She shifted Anja so she was holding the baby in one arm, allowing the other to wrap around Ali's shoulders and pull the girl closer.

"Her name is Anja."  
"She's pretty, мама." Ali's voice was a whisper, as she held out her hand to lightly brush her fingers across her sister's cheek.  
"Yes she is, Ali."  
"She'll play with me, right?"  
"Of course, sweetie. Not for a while, because she needs to get bigger first, but once she is, she'll play with you lots." Clint answered.

Ali nodded her head, content with that answer.

The family sat in silence for a while longer, before the door opened, and the rest of the team made their way inside, eager to see the new baby.

Clara and Abbie, Tony and Pepper's twin girls- and Ali's best friends- climbed up on the bed next to their friend, and peered at the baby in Natasha's arms.

"She's pretty, Auntie Tasha."

Natasha smiled at Clara, and handed Anja to Clint so he could pass her around.

When the baby got to Tony, he felt the need to point out the obvious.

"Her hair is _really_ blonde."  
"Thank you, Captain Obvious."  
"I do not understand. I thought he" pointing at Steve, "was our Captain." Thor interjected.  
"He is, Thor. It's an expression used for when one points out something that everyone can see clearly." Clint explained.

Thor nodded, although he still looked a bit confused.

"My point is that she's really blonde. And neither of you are _that _blonde."  
"Again, I thank you, Captain Obvious."  
Tony sighed, clearly not getting the answer he wanted.

"_Why_ is she that blonde?"  
"Tony, honestly. Most babies are born blonde. Clara and Abbie were. It'll fade, don't worry." Pepper told her husband.  
"Actually, it won't fade." Natasha whispered.

Everyone looked at Natasha in confusion, except for Clint.

"What do you mean, Natasha?"  
"Her hair color, it won't fade."  
"You can't know that."  
"But I do."  
"How?"  
"That's my hair color."  
"No. Your hair is red."  
"You're really good at being obvious, Stark. Yes, my hair is red. But it wasn't always red."  
"Really?"  
Natasha nodded. "Before the Red Room, my hair was that color. I absolutely loved it. But when they took me, the decided red fit me better, so they changed it."  
"So why do you keep dying it?"  
"I don't. My hair isn't dyed. It's been genetically altered. But not completely, apparently." The last part was said in a whisper as Natasha looked at the almost white fuzz on Anja's head.

The group nodded, and everyone turned their attention back to the new baby, while Clint sat on the edge of Natasha's bed and ran his fingers through her hair, loving that her hair was always soft, even when she was sweating, and loving that the color fit her better than any other.

* * *

Eventually, a nurse came in and informed them that visiting hours were ending, and that they needed to leave. The group mumbled, but left the room anyways, Pepper and Tony taking Ali back to the tower with them.

Clint carefully placed Anja in her cot, and wheeled it closer to the bed. When a nurse came in to take Anja to the nursery for the night, Natasha refused, saying she'd be fine with her daughter in the room. The nurse nodded, having heard stories of Natasha while she was in labor, and not wanting to mess with the frightful redhead.

Natasha scooted over to make room for Clint to lie down next to her, and he obliged, pulling her snuggly against him.

"Clint?" She asked softly, not really wanting to voice her fears.  
"Hmm?"  
"How are we going to protect two of them?"  
"What do you mean, Tasha?"  
"How can we protect both of our children, Clint?"  
"We will. Because we have to. We'll teach them to protect themselves, and they'll continue with having Bruce and Tony and Steve and Pepper teach them the regular school subjects."

Natasha nodded, wondering if it would be enough.

"No matter what, Tash, we'll keep our girls safe."  
Natasha smiled as she snuggled closer to her husband and fell asleep, listening to his heartbeat and feeling his fingers trace patterns on her back.

* * *

**There you have it! So this is quite extremely fluffy, but even assassins deserve fluff from time to time. But I promise, next one will have lots of drama. **

**Also, if i get enough reviews, I might be convinced to write a Budapest story for these too. So, drop a review, say what you'd like me to consider including for Budapest.  
****But fair warning: since Budapest was so important, it'll most likely be a while before I post it, since I'll want to get everything right. But I will post it. If you all convince me to.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	7. Manhattan

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated last, I've just been crazy busy. As promised, this one has lots of drama. Hope you guys like it, and remember, please review!**

* * *

**Manhattan**

"Daddy!"  
"Hey Bug. How are you this morning?"  
"Sleepy."  
"I bet you are. You stayed up very late last night, Ali."  
Ali nodded and held out her arms for a hug from her father. Clint wrapped his arms around her and lifted her from the bed while pressing a kiss to the top of her head.

"Are you hungry, Bug?"  
"Yes!"  
"Ok. Let's go wake up Anja and we'll have pancakes, ok?"

Ali nodded and rested her head on Clint's shoulder. They made their way to Anja's room to find that she was already awake. Clint shifted Ali so that he could pick Anja up and carried both of his daughters to the kitchen, were he set them on the counter.

"Daddy?"  
"Yes, Anja?"  
"When Mama comin' home?"  
The 4 year old was looking at him with sad eyes, and Clint knew she missed her mother. Both of his girls did.

"Mama will be home soon."  
Anja nodded her acceptance; her long blonde curls bouncing as she nodded.

Clint set to work making pancakes and bacon, making funny faces at his daughters from time to time.

When breakfast was ready, they ate on the counter like hey usually did, mostly because it was too much trouble to move to the table.

As soon as the girls were done, Clint set them on the floor, and told them to go play with Clara, Abbie, and Mja. They ran out of the room while Clint put the dishes in the dishwasher.

"Director Fury is on his way to your floor, Agent Barton."  
"Thank you, JARVIS."  
Clint finished cleaning, and went to the living room to wait for his boss, trying not to think too much into why the director of SHIELD was coming unannounced.

He didn't have to wait too long before Fury showed up.

"Agent Barton."  
"Director Fury. What's this about."  
"Why don't we sit down?"  
_This isn't good._

They moved to the couch and sat down. Clint waited for Fury to speak and tried not to pay attention to the look in his eye.

"What's this about, Fury?"  
"Agent Romanoff hasn't checked in."  
"What?"  
"She missed two check ins. We sent agents in to her location, and found her in a basement."  
"Where is she?"  
"Barton. When we found her, there was no pulse. We had a medical team with us, and they called it."  
"Called what?" _Don't be stupid, Barton. You know what he's telling you.  
_Fury sighed, "She's dead, Clint."

Clint had been expecting it. He'd known something was wrong when Fury had come to the tower. But he'd been hoping that it wasn't true.

At least Fury had the decency to seem upset. He pulled a large envelope out and handed it to Clint.

He took it, and saw his name written at the top in Natasha's unmistakable handwriting. Just the sight of her handwriting was enough to drive a knife through his heart.

"I'll give you some time, Clint. You have 2 months of mandatory leave, but I'll give you more if you need it. We'll plan the funeral, unless you'd rather do it."  
Clint nodded, and as Fury was leaving, a thought struck him.

"Can I see her? Can I see my wife?"  
"I'm sorry, Clint. When we found her, the place was rigged to blow. We barely made it out, we lost 5 men when it blew. There isn't enough to see, Clint."  
Clint nodded. "Did she at least go down fighting?"  
Fury gave a small smile "Yeah, if the bruises on her arms and skin under her nails were anything to go by."

Clint nodded again, and when he didn't say anything else, Fury left.

Clint looked at the envelope again. He knew what would be inside. After the girls were born, they'd written letters to the others and their daughters, in case anything happened. They left them with Fury, because they didn't trust anyone else enough to leave the letters with.

Clint didn't know how long he stared, but giggling and a soft voice broke him out of his spell.

"Daddy!"  
Clint looked up and forced a smile when he saw his daughters.

"Hi, Princess."  
Anja walked over to him and gave him a hug. "Daddy ok?"  
"Yeah, Princess, I'm fine."  
"Girls, why don't you go play in Anja or Ali's room?"  
The girls nodded, and the five of them walked down the hall. Once she heard doors close, Pepper made her way over to the couch and sat down next to Clint.

"Clint?"  
"Yeah?"  
"I know you're not fine. What's up?"  
Clint sighed. He knew Pepper would force it out of him, so there was no use in lying.

"She's gone."  
"What? Who's gone?"  
"Tasha. She's-she's-"  
"She's what, Clint?"  
"Dead." His voice was barely above a whisper, trying desperately not to break down.

He heard Pepper's gasp. When he worked up the courage to look up, he saw the shock on her face.

"What?"  
"The mark caught on, I guess, and when they sent someone to check on her after missing check ins, they found her. She was gone."  
"I'm so sorry, Clint."  
"What am I supposed to tell them? How do I tell my girls that their mother is dead?"  
"I honestly don't know, Clint. But I'll do whatever I can to help you, we all will."  
Pepper reached her hand out to grip his and squeezed tightly.

Clint nodded and stood up, "I guess I'll go tell them now."  
"Will they let you see her?"  
Clint shook his head, remembering Fury's words. "There's not enough of her left to see. The building blew."  
Pepper nodded, horrified.

Clint made his way down the hall to his daughters' rooms, trying to figure out what to say. He decided to start with Ali, figuring it would be easier to tell a 10-year-old than a 4-year-old.

When he opened the door, he found Ali, Clara and Abbie playing with dolls.

"Clara, Abbie, can I talk to Ali for a moment? Your mom's still in the living room, you can go play with her before you have to start school."  
The girls nodded, and hugged Ali goodbye. Clint made his way into the bedroom and sat on her bed. Ali came up next to him and crawled into his lap.

"What's wrong, Daddy?"  
"It's Mama, Bug."  
"Is Mama gone, Daddy?"  
Clint was shocked. He knew she'd figure something was wrong, but he didn't think she'd do it that quickly.

"What do you mean 'gone', Bug?"  
"She got hurt, and can't come home again. Right?"  
"Yeah, Bug. She's not coming home again."  
Ali nodded, and curled into her father.

"Are we all alone now?"  
"No. You'll never be alone. You have me, and Anja. And you have Clara, Abbie, Mja, and Pepper, Tony, Steve, Bruce, Jane, and Thor."  
Ali nodded again and the two fell silent.

"Bug?"  
"Yeah, Daddy?"  
"Can you help me?"  
"With what?"  
"Lots of things. I'm going to do my best, but I'll probably mess up a lot, so please don't get mad at me."  
"I won't, Daddy."  
"Thank you, Bug. Can you help me tell Anja?"  
"Yeah."  
Ali stood up, and together she and Clint made their way to Anja's room where she was playing with Mja.

"Mja, can you go play with Clara and Abbie, please?"  
"Yep!"

She ran past Clint, allowing him and Ali to enter the room.

"Princess, can we talk to you?"  
Anja nodded and made her way to her dad and sister. Clint pulled the little girl into his lap, and nodded at Ali.

"Anja, can you be brave for me, just for a little?"  
"Yep."  
Ali smiled at her sister before continuing.  
"Something happened, and now Mama can't come home."  
"Mama not comin' home?"  
"She can't, Anja. She can't come home again. She had to go somewhere else. But it's very pretty where she is. And she's waiting for us to meet her there."  
"Let's go!"  
"We can't, Anja, not yet. We have to wait a while before we can go, but we'll go someday, and she'll still be there. Until then, though, we have to stay here. She won't be able to help us, but Daddy is going to stay with us, and so will everyone else."  
"Ali, I has question."  
"What's your question, Anja?"  
"Does Mama not love us?"  
"Oh, no, Anja, Mama loves us very much."  
"Then why she not come back?"  
"Because she can't. It's not safe, and you know Mama always tried to keep us safe. But if she comes home, we won't be safe."  
"Will we be ok, Ali?"  
"Yes, Anja. We'll be ok."

Anja nodded, and leaned into her father's chest. Ali looked up to her father to make sure she'd done ok, and saw that he was trying not to cry.

"We'll all be just fine." She whispered, more to herself and her father than to her sister.

Clint reached his arm out to Ali, and she climbed into his lap next to her sister and buried her face in his chest, trying not to cry.

Clint held his daughters tightly, determined to never lose them again.

When they finally left Anja's room and reentered the living room, Clint was glad to see that Pepper had taken the girls and left their floor. He set his daughters on the couch and sat between them.

"JARVIS, please play Beauty and the Beast."  
"Certainly, sir."  
The three of them got comfortable as the movie started, Anja's head resting in Clint's lap, Ali's resting on his shoulder.

When the movie was over, Clint allowed Anja to pick the next one, and Ali picked the one after that. They spent the day watching Disney movies, both Clint and Ali trying hard not to cry. Anja didn't seem to know what Natasha never coming home meant, only that it made her dad and sister upset.

Clint knew that he needed to make his girls dinner, but he didn't want to move, worried that something would happen to them while he was in the kitchen. Luckily, Pepper seemed to have thought he'd feel like that, because at 5:30, she reappeared in the living room, asking the girls what they wanted for dinner. Once she had her answer, she made her way to the kitchen and started cooking. She called the girls into the kitchen and had them on the stools by the counter while they ate. Pepper and Clint stood on the other side of the counter, and when the girls struck up a conversation about which Disney princess was the best- Ali said Belle while Anja was determined that it was Jasmine, while Ali was adamant that Jasmine wasn't a _real_ princess, since her dad wasn't a king- Pepper leaned over and whispered in Clint's ear.

"I told the guys, and they all decided to give you guys a week to yourselves before they try to do anything. Tony will give you two weeks."  
Clint cracked a small smile at that part.

"And I can come make you guys dinner for a while, if you'd like."  
Clint nodded.

They turned their attention back to the girls, who'd finished dinner and wanted ice cream.

When the ice cream was finished, Clint had Ali help Anja with her bath, hoping that they'd take each other's minds off the news they'd gotten that day.

Clint made his way back to the couch where he remembered the envelope from Natasha. It was currently sitting on the coffee table, so he reached out and picked it up. He knew he'd have to open it, but he was hoping that if he put it off long enough, it wouldn't be true anymore.

"Do you want me to put the girls to bed so you can read that?"  
Clint looked up and found Pepper looking at him.

"I'll come say goodnight, but I know Ali will want someone to stay with her, if you wouldn't mind."  
"Of course."

They made their way to Anja's room first. Clint picked her up off the floor and hugged her tightly.

"Goodnight, Princess. Sleep well, and I'll see you tomorrow."  
"Night, Daddy."  
He kissed her cheek and set her on the bed. He tucked her in tightly, tickling her belly for a moment. He handed her her Pooh Bear and kissed both of them, before turning off the lights and leaving the room, making sure to leave the door open slightly.

They continued down the hall to Ali's room. Clint wasn't surprised to find her already in her bed, but he knew she wasn't asleep.

"Goodnight, Bug. Sleep well, and I'll see you tomorrow."  
Ali hugged him tightly, "Goodnight, Daddy. Can you stay? Please?"  
"I have a few things I need to do, Bug, but Pepper said she'd stay with you until you fell asleep, ok?"  
Ali nodded, and Clint and Pepper changed places. Clint helped tuck Ali in and kissed her head before leaving the room.

When he got back to the living room, he grabbed the envelope and made his way to his bedroom.

When he opened the door, he was assaulted with her scent. He'd known it would happen, but it still struck him. He made his way to the bed, refusing to sit anywhere but on his side. He carefully opened the envelope and pulled out three envelopes. His heart broke even more when he saw the two envelopes for Ali and Anja, knowing that he'd have to give them to the girls eventually. He slid them back in the big envelope and gingerly picked up the envelope addressed to him.

As stupid as it was, he brought the envelope to his nose, and breathed in the scent of his wife, knowing that there might come a time when her scent wouldn't linger on any of her possessions.

He turned it over and slowly opened it, trying to prolong the inevitable. He slid the paper from he envelope and unfolded it with care.

He began to read, trying not to cry

_Clint-  
If you're reading this, then you know that I'm not coming home. I like to think that I'll have gone down fighting, but no matter how it happened, know that I was thinking about you and our girls until the end.  
I owe you so much. You're the reason I became human. You saved my body that night, and gave me a life the day after. You showed me what it meant to care about someone other than myself. You showed me that it was ok to feel emotions; that they don't make you weak.  
And you showed me that love isn't just for children. You taught me to love again, and for that alone I owe you so much. Without that, I wouldn't have ever agreed to marry you, and we never would have had our little girls. The only reason I was able to go through anything about being pregnant with Ali was because I knew that you knew I could do it. I wouldn't have made it through that without you. I wouldn't have made it through a lot of things without you.  
I know that if you're reading this, I'm not going to be there to comfort you. I'll miss everything about you. I'll miss the sound of your bow releasing, knowing you'll hit the target. I'll miss listening to you sing over comms when you're bored. I'll miss the way you'd get jealous when I had to seduce a mark, the way I'd catch you glaring all night. I'll miss the way you looked at me when we got done with solo missions and saw each other for the first time, the look that told me that I belonged to you, without you being stupid enough to say it out loud. I'll miss the way you'd hold me when I had nightmares, the way you'd let me hold you when you had them. I'll miss the way you'd kiss every scar when we were alone at night, and I'll miss being able to kiss each of yours. But mostly, I'll miss being around you. The way you can change my mood with just one look. The way we don't need to speak to communicate. I'll miss the kisses you gave me the day our daughters were born, and the way you looked at them the first time you saw them. And I'll never forget the day we got married, how handsome you looked, the butterflies I got in my stomach as I walked down the aisle, the way I felt right after we said 'I do.', our first kiss as husband and wife.  
Promise me something, Clint. Promise me that you won't let this consume you. I know you'll be upset, and you damn well better mourn. But don't let it go on forever. You'll need to be there for Ali and Anja. You'll need to kiss their injuries, hold them when they wake up at night, and intimidate any boys who have the guts to ask them out. You'll have to be everything for them, but I know you can do it. You've done much more difficult things before, so you'll be able to do this too.  
One more thing, Clint. Don't forget me. Live your life, love someone if you find someone new, but please remember me. Remember my laugh and my smile. Remember my favorite way to take you down while we sparred. Remember the way my hair looked during our honeymoon in Hawaii with the sun shining off of it. But overall, remember how I loved you. Remember that you were the first person I ever let myself love again. Remember that I loved you more than I loved myself.  
And please, don't let our girls forget me. Remind them of my weird habits, and tell them everyday that I loved them. That I love them. No matter how painful they'll be to talk about at first, I promise it'll get better with time. Just remember me.  
I love you, Clint. I'll love you forever, and nothing will ever change that, no matter what anyone else says.  
-Tasha_

Clint finished reading her letter and realized that he was crying. He quickly rubbed the tears away and folded the letter before putting it back in the envelope. He opened the drawer on his bedside table and slipped it in. He stood and made his way to the closet where he pulled out pajamas. He'd just finished pulling them on when he heard a knock at the door, and Pepper's voice asking if she could come inside.

He walked over and opened the door, not ready to let anyone else into his bedroom.

"I just wanted to let you know that Ali's asleep, and I'm heading back to my floor. I'll come check on you guys tomorrow before work if I can, but I'll definitely make dinner for you guys."  
Clint nodded, and Pepper turned away. Just as she was about to turn into the living room, Clint called her name.

"Pepper."  
When she turned around, Clint forced a small smile on his face. "Thank you. For everything you've done. Thank you so much."  
"Don't worry about it, Clint. We're all here for you, whenever you're ready."  
Clint nodded and stepped into his room again, closing the door behind himself.

He made his way to the bed and climbed in. He grabbed Natasha's pillow, and pulled it tightly to his chest, inhaling the scent that came off of it.

He didn't know when he fell asleep, but he must have, because some time later, he was woken up.

"Daddy?" a voice whispered.  
"Bug? What's wrong?"  
"I can't sleep. Can I stay with you?"

Clint nodded and moved over slightly to make room for Ali. He'd figured this would happen.

"I'm trying to stay strong, Daddy. So I don't make Anja sad."  
"I know, Bug. But you don't have to be strong right now. You can cry if you need to. It's not a weakness to show emotion."  
"Really?"  
"Really, Bug. It's ok to cry sometimes."  
Ali nodded, and snuggled into Clint's chest. He ran his hand through her red curls, and before long, he felt his oldest daughter shaking with sobs. He held her tighter, rubbing soothing circles on her back. Eventually, she cried all her tears, and drifted off to sleep. Clint continued rubbing her back, before he too fell asleep.

* * *

One month later, Clint sat beside an open grave; Ali sat on his right, Anja on his left. Surrounding them were the other members of the Avengers and their children. Clint tried his best to listen to the words being spoken, but found that he couldn't. Anja had finally comprehended that Natasha really wasn't coming back and the information was causing her to sob as she sat next to him. Clint wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her against his body. He stroked her waist length white-blonde hair, the hair she'd gotten from her mother. He was slightly surprised at how pretty she was, with her hair flowing freely down her back, a color which made her emerald green eyes pop, contrasting sharply with the black of here dress. He just wished her outfit was for something else, something much happier. Ali was on his other side, stoically refusing to cry. She'd been spending every night with her father, the only time she allowed herself to cry. Clint reached out and held her hand, which she squeezed tightly.

Clint was aware that the man had stopped speaking. Before he could really figure out what was going on, Ali was out of her seat and making her way to stand at the front of the crowd. He was struck with just how pretty she was as well. Her bright red hair, the exact same shade as Natasha's had been for the entire time he'd known her, reached to her waist and fell in perfect ringlets with hardly a hair out of place. She too had her mother's eyes, which shone with happiness when she laughed, and could break your heart when she was sad.

_I just wish you could watch them grow up, Tasha._

Clint watched as she stepped up to the microphone and saw the little shake of her hands that signaled her nerves. But with a deep breath, she calmed them, and began speaking.

"My mother wasn't perfect. Whenever she tried to do anything more complicated than a ponytail with my hair, she'd mess it up and I'd be left with massive knots everywhere."  
There were some chuckles at this, which encouraged Ali to keep speaking.  
"She burned everything she tried to make, but refused to accept that she couldn't cook. But she was wonderful at so many things too. She knew how to make scrapes stop hurting with just one kiss. She knew how to laugh at herself when she messed up. But most importantly, she knew how to love me and my sister and our father. She knew that emotions could be dangerous, but she never let that get in her way. She loved us more than we could have ever asked for. She did everything she could to make sure that we were safe, and that ended up costing her more than anyone could have imagined. I love you, Mama. I always have, and I always will."

Ali finished her speech and returned to her seat. Clint leaned over and hugged her tightly.

"Thank you, Bug." He whispered in her ear before kissing her temple.

The rest of the service passed, neither quickly nor altogether slowly either. It passed exactly as it should have, every second in place and accounted for.

When it was over, hugs were exchanged. He lost count of how many people he'd hugged, but he made sure to keep an eye on his daughters. When everyone had left, Clint, Ali, and Anja remained at the grave, staring at where the coffin had been.

Finally, Clint decided it was time to head back to the tower. He picked Anja up and held out his hand for Ali. Together, they left the cemetery without looking back to the grave, knowing it would be to painful.

"Daddy?"  
"Yeah, Princess?"  
"We get flowers?"  
"Yeah, Princess, we can get flowers."  
"And bring them back tomorrow?"  
"Not tomorrow, Princess. We'll come back next week, and we'll bring flowers then, ok?"  
"Ok, Daddy."  
They continued on in silence. As they approached the car, Clint caught sight of a flash of red in his peripheral vision.

"Tasha?"  
There was no response, not that he'd thought there would be._ Losing your mind, Barton. Of course she isn't here.  
_When they got to the car, he helped the girls in and strapped Anja into her seat. He made his way around the car to his door, and he saw it again.

It was just a flash of red. It could have easily been an illusion, but something told Clint it wasn't.  
"Tasha?"

There was movement off to his right, and when he turned, he saw someone step out of the trees surrounding the parking lot.

Someone he thought he'd never see again.

"Tasha?"  
She smiled. "Clint."

**Dun dun duuuunnnn. I told you there would be drama! I hope it was fairly believable; I don't really have much personal experience with things like these. I know some parts are kind of fluffy, but I hope it's not too bad.  
Also, the bit about the argument about which Disney princess is better is an argument that happened in my house frequently. I was 5 billion percent for Belle, while my sister was 5 billion percent for Jasmine. And the argument that Jasmine's father isn't a real king was one my father used frequently, mostly to joke with my sister about her favorite princess. I know that a Sultan is/was the equivalent of a king in the middle east, so Jasmine is technically a princess. **

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	8. Manhattan pt2

**As promised, I've updated again!  
If you guys want me to write a Budapest story for this, let me know in the reviews. Enjoy!**

* * *

_Last chapter:_

_It was just a flash of red. It could have easily been an illusion, but something told Clint it wasn't._

_"Tasha?"  
There was movement off to his right, and when he turned, he saw someone step out of the trees surrounding the parking lot._

_Someone he thought he'd never see again.  
"Tasha?"  
She smiled. "Clint."_

**Manhattan part 2**

He couldn't believe it. She was supposed to be dead, buried in the ground. And yet, she was standing just in front of him, giving him the smile he'd read about in her letter every night for the last month.

But there was something different. In her eyes he could see something, almost like fear. Like she was afraid of his reaction.

And just like that, it hit him.

"Go back. Go back to wherever you were hiding. I don't want them to see you. I'll follow you and we'll talk." He spat the last word.

Her smile dropped, replaced with a sad look, but he could tell that she knew she deserved it. She carefully made her way back to the trees she'd been hiding in while Clint went to the car. He opened the door and motioned for Ali to get out.

He shut the door before speaking.

"Bug, I need you to lock the doors. I have to go get something, but I'll be back soon, ok? You'll both be fine, but lock the doors, just in case. You know what to do, Bug."  
Ali nodded and got back in the car. Clint made sure it was locked before walking back towards the trees.

He easily found Natasha; she was standing about 3 feet into the trees, leaning against a large trunk, arms crossed over her chest. As soon as she saw him, her arms dropped, and the sad look returned to her face.

"Hi."  
"Really? A month without seeing each other and _that's _how you want to start?"  
"Clint, I'm-"  
"You're what, Tash? Sorry?"  
"Yes! I'm sorry, I didn't have a choice!"  
"We thought you were DEAD, Tasha. Do you know what that does to a kid? Our _4-year-old_ was just sobbing her heart out because she thought she'd never see you again. Not to mention that our 10-year-old acts more like an 18-year-old now because she's determined that if you can't be her mother, no one else can, so she has to do it all herself."  
"Clint, please. Just let me explain."

Clint was pissed. Beyond pissed, really. But he'd never been able to refuse her anything, and dammit, she knew that about him.

So instead he sighed heavily and glared at his wife. "Fine." He spat.

She looked a little relieved and launched into her story.

"Well, Fury told me that after my last mission I had a deep cover mission to do, and I had to fake my death."  
"Yeah, I got that part. What I don't get is the part where you didn't tell me. I get not telling anyone else, but not telling me? Then I could have given our girls some hope, but now I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better to just not let them see you again."  
It was a low blow, and he knew it, but god help him, he was _mad_.

"But I did! Before I left again, Fury told me to write you a letter explaining everything. I did, and I wrote one to Ali and Anja too, telling them that my mission got extended, but that I'd be home in a month."  
"That's lovely, Tasha. But we didn't get _those_ letters."  
"You didn't? Then which ones did you get?"  
Clint gave a sour laugh, "I got the letter from my _loving_ wife where she told me that I was the reason she was human again, that I was the first person she let herself love again. That our girls meant everything to her. I read the letter that came with letters for our daughters, letters I'm suddenly _very_ glad I hadn't given to them yet to read. I read the letter my wife wrote for when she died. And I read it every night before Ali came into our bedroom because she couldn't sleep, and it was the only time she let herself cry because _her mother was DEAD._ That's the letter I got."  
Natasha was shocked. She knew he wasn't lying, but at the same time, she couldn't believe that Fury would accidentally mix up the letters.

"Clint." His name came out a whisper, catching him completely off guard. But not as off-guard as the tears he saw slipping from her eyes, even as he could tell she was trying to stop them.

It was the tears that finally broke him. He walked to his wife and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her tightly into his chest, finally allowing himself to believe that she was alive.

Natasha hugged him back as tightly as she could.

"So what the hell happened, Tasha, and why didn't I know you weren't dead?"  
"I don't know Clint, but I think I know where to start."  
Clint nodded before stepping away and pulling out his phone.

"Pepper? Hi, no yeah, everything's fine. I was just wondering if you guys could come pick up Ali and Anja. We're still at the cemetery, and I just need some time to myself to remember. I'm gonna go somewhere safe for a wile, and I don't want them to see me like that."  
He listened for a moment before thanking Pepper and hanging up.

"Clint? What are you doing?"  
"They don't need to see you yet. We're going to figure out what happened, and then we'll go from there."  
Clint saw the look on Natasha's face when he said she wasn't going to see Ali and Anja, it was like he'd ripped her heart out.

"Tasha, you'll see them soon, I promise. When this is all over, the four of us are going on a _long_ vacation."  
Natasha nodded. Clint leaned in and kissed her cheek before making his way back to the car to wait for Pepper.

When Pepper finally arrived, Clint hugged his daughters and told them he'd see them later and sent them off with Pepper.

When he could no longer see or hear the car, he went back for Natasha and led her to the car. Once he got in he pointed the car in the direction of their nearest safe house.

They drove in silence, except for the occasional theory, but they were careful about what they were discussing- even their own car could be bugged.

When they arrived at the house they took stock of what supplies they had, and made their way to the local store, where they got enough food for the next few days, figuring it would take at least that long.

When they returned to the house, they put everything away and changed into more comfortable clothes, finally realizing why they kept the closets full.

Finally they got to work. They figured it wasn't an accident, and quickly determined that it wasn't Fury, and that even if it was, he would have had a good reason to do it.

As much as it pained them, they figured that it was an inside job; so all that was left was finding evidence of who at SHIELD wanted Natasha dead.

"Why are you assuming that they want you dead, Tash?"  
"There's no other reason for those other letters to be sent to you, unless they were planning to botch my mission."  
"What was your mission?"  
"Couple weeks undercover to get close, seduce the mark, and steal his secrets. Then I'd have a two week break, and I 'd head back into the organization, which was why I needed to fake my death."  
Clint nodded, and wrote something down on the notepad in front of him.

"That means that they were going to try something during the first part. I'm assuming you got the info, and are still heading back in?"  
Natasha nodded, "But I don't think it was going to be the first month, that would be too suspicious. Me getting killed doing the same kind of op I do all the time? Not likely. It would make much more sense that it would happen during the second part."  
Clint nodded his agreement. "Well, we know that it was someone in SHIELD with access to Fury, and more importantly, the letters. So how many people is that?"  
"Well, there's Hill, but I know she wouldn't do it. That leaves Jones, Mitchell, and Carson."  
"Ok, go through the info. What about Jones?"  
"Hannah Jones, 34. She's married, 4 kids. Not very likely to try and kill another mom. Plus, she's been on maternity leave for the last 3 months, and I got the mission a month and a half ago."  
"So not Jones. What about Mitchell?"  
"Jackson Mitchell, 56. He's worked with SHIELD for 31 years, so he's seen everything we do. He knows we'd figure something was wrong, and he's seen what happens when something happens to our partner. He's not dumb enough."  
"Right. So that leaves Carson?"  
"Jillian Carson, 28. She was in the group I was in for the physical portion of the agent exam for SHIELD. I beat her, which meant that she had to wait until the next one to try to qualify. But during training, she tore her Achilles, and it put her out of commission. She's not allowed to be an agent now, so Fury gave her the position. She was good, she deserved it."  
"But she was pissed at you?"  
"Oh, yeah. Fury only had her handle one thing for us after Phil died. It went horrible, you remember Tokyo, right?" Clint nodded. "Well, that was the only time she ever acted as our handler. From then on, it's been Hill. Which is also why Hill wouldn't have done it. No handler is stupid enough to get one of their agents killed."

Clint smiled at Natasha, knowing that they'd figured out who'd tried to get her killed. Now all they needed was proof.

* * *

And proof they got. Clint had called Tony and, after making it very clear that horrible things would happen to Tony if he told anyone what he was doing, he'd hacked into SHIELD to get all of Carson's files. With that, Clint and Natasha were able to do some digging into her life.

They found that her Achilles had been torn because she wasn't resting it enough while training, obviously trying to prove she was good enough to be an agent. It was a career-ending injury she could easily blame on Natasha. They also found that after Fury gave her the job, she'd been in contact with some not-so-nice Russians, accepting money in return for missions going south.

And the massive sum of money that was added to her account by the person running the organization Natasha was infiltrating was pretty damming as well.

"Well, Tasha, we know who tried to get you killed. But how the hell are we going to tell Fury? What we did isn't exactly legal."  
"No, but it's not against protocol. The SHIELD manual states that in the event of imminent death, SHIELD agents are allowed, and encouraged, to use any means necessary to survive. It doesn't say anything about being in the field, so we're good."  
"Now we just need to talk to Fury."

Natasha nodded and hugged her husband tightly. Clint called Fury, asking the director to meet Clint at a diner not far from HQ the next day. Fury agreed, and the call was ended.

The next morning, the assassins set out for the diner, armed with their evidence. They found Fury waiting in a booth at the back of the diner, and went to join him.

"Barton. Romanoff. Good to see you. I must say, Barton, your acting was exceptional."  
"It wasn't acting, Sir. I really thought she was gone."  
"Did you not read the letter I gave you?"  
"I did, sir. But someone had switched it for the _other_ letters, and that's the one I read."  
Fury was shocked to say the least. "Who?"  
"Jillian Carson. She wanted to have me killed, because she thinks it's my fault she couldn't be a field agent."  
"But she knew how it worked. You beat her, you move on, she has to come back."  
"Yes, but she was training and that's when she tore her Achilles. She blames me."  
Fury nodded. "Do you have any proof of this?"  
"Loads of proof, sir."  
Clint handed over the information they'd found, and Fury began to read. When he was done, he nodded to the two, and stood up.

"I'll be seeing you. I've got a few things to take care of, go home and see your girls, Romanoff."

They all nodded to each other, and made their way to their cars. Clint and Natasha decided to go back to the safe house until Fury told them everything had been taken care of.

That night, Clint got a phone call.

"Everything's fixed. Carson admitted everything. She'll have parts of her memory wiped to prevent sharing our secrets then she's doing jail time for attempted murder. She refused a trial, said she knew she'd lose."  
"Thank you, sir."  
Clint hung up and told Natasha what he'd learned. She smiled and kissed him soundly, before walking him back towards the bedroom, planning on them getting very little sleep. She hadn't seen her husband in over a month, after all.

* * *

As Natasha sat in the car, she was suddenly very nervous. She and Clint were heading back to the tower and she'd finally see her daughters again. But she couldn't help but be worried. She figured Anja would be thrilled that she was alive, but she didn't know about Ali. Her oldest daughter definitely had her temper, and that made Natasha very nervous.

The rest of the Avengers weren't a problem. Clint had had Fury call the tower and tell them everything that had happened, and they'd been thrilled to learn that Natasha was fine.

When they pulled up in front of the tower, Natasha was unable to move.

"Tasha? Are you coming?"  
Natasha didn't answer. Clint made his way to her door and helped her from the car.

"Tasha, what's wrong?"  
"Ali's going to hate me. You said it yourself, Clint, she thought I was dead."  
Clint wrapped his arms around Natasha and pulled her close.

"She's not going to hate you, Tasha. She's going to be thrilled that you're alive."  
"Really?"  
"Don't be stupid, Tasha. Yes really."  
Clint kissed the top of her head and held her for another moment, before leading her into the tower and up to their floor.

Natasha had barely stepped off the elevator when she was assaulted by a mass of white blonde hair.

"Mama! I knew you'd come back! Ali said you wouldn't, that it wasn't safe, but I knew you would!"  
Natasha smiled as she picked her youngest daughter up and held her tightly.

"I'll always try to come back, Princess. You know that."  
Anja threw her arms around Natasha's neck and hugged with all the strength she could muster, which was a lot for a 4-year-old, since her parents had started training her in gymnastics and hand to hand combat.

Natasha was just starting to wonder where her oldest daughter was when she saw a flash of red at the other end of the living room.

She turned her head slightly and found Ali staring at her. Bright green eyes locked, and Natasha needed to hug her daughter, even if Ali was pissed.

She handed Anja to Clint, and cautiously stepped towards Ali. Ali saw the movement, and a moment later, she was running at her mother, bright red curls flying behind her. Natasha held her arms out and Ali launched herself into them. Natasha lifted the 10-year-old off the floor, Ali's legs wrapping around Natasha's waist and Natasha held her tightly.

"Я думала, вы ушли, мама. Я была так напугана, я не знала, что я делаю, но я знал, что я должен был помочь папа. Я старался, мама, но я не мог этого делать." _'I thought you were gone, Mommy. I was so scared, I didn't know what I was doing, but I knew I had to help Daddy. I tried, mommy, but I couldn't do it anymore.'  
_"It's ok, Bug. I know you did your best. But you don't have to worry anymore. I'm here and I'll always make sure you're safe."

Ali nodded into her mother's neck and hugged her even more tightly.

Natasha knew it was true. No matter what happened, she'd make sure her family was safe.

* * *

**Well, there's the end of that section. I hope you liked it. I tried to have the ending be somewhat realistic, but still quite sweet, so I hope I did ok.  
Remember, I'll write a Budapest story if I get enough reviews asking for one, so ask away!  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	9. Sao Paulo

**Sorry it's been so long since I updated! I got distracted by my other stories. Please forgive me!**

* * *

**Sao Paulo**

Natasha Romanoff ran out of the building, looking behind her once to make sure that no one had followed her, and she cussed when she realized there were at least 5 men behind her.

"Window, what's going on?"  
"I'm blown, Hawkeye."  
"Shit!"  
Natasha didn't respond, just kept running. She wove her way around buildings, through alleys, even going so far as to run through someone's yard.

The men were keeping up with her, definitely not a good thing.

"Lead them to the warehouses. I'll take care of it form there."  
"To them, or in them?"  
"In, preferably."  
"You got it."  
Natasha turned down the next alley and continued running, leading them back through the city to the warehouses she'd passed after leaving the building.

"Alright, I see them."  
"Ok, get them inside. But make sure you get out."  
"What are you going to do?"  
"You'll see. Just make sure you're clear."  
"How clear?"  
"Very."  
Natasha nodded once, not expecting him to see her.

She ran through the door to one warehouse, and thanked her training that she was far enough ahead that she could get through the window before the saw where she'd gone.

"I'm out."  
"That's nice. I said get clear."  
Natasha sighed, but ran back the way she'd come.

"Where exactly are you?"  
"Two buildings over."  
Natasha changed her trajectory to meet him.

"Shit! One of them followed you."  
"Fuck!"  
"Keep running, I'll take care of it."  
Natasha continued running, until she got to a dead end.

"I'm trapped, Hawkeye."  
Instead of a reply, Natasha heard nothing. Then, out of nowhere, she heard a building collapse. She ran back to the mouth of the alley she was in, and saw one of that one of the warehouses was a pile of rubble.

_What the hell?_

"Hawkeye, what did you do?"  
No response.

"Hawkeye?"  
Silence was her only response. Natasha was doing her best not to worry, but her voice didn't seem to want to cooperate.

"Barton!"

Still nothing.

"Clint!" Natasha screamed.

When nothing answered her, she began running toward the building.

Just outside the building, a man was sitting up, staring at the building.

Natasha had never been so glad to see dirty blonde hair in all her life.

"Clint! You jackass, why didn't you answer me?"  
But Clint didn't turn around; he didn't make any gesture to show that he'd heard her. Natasha walked over to him and placed her hand on his shoulder. Before she could do anything, however, Clint flipped around and had his bow pointed at her chest.

"Clint?"  
Clint looked at her with confusion for a moment, before lowering his bow.

"Why didn't you answer me?"  
Clint didn't respond, so Natasha asked again. As she finished speaking, she realized that his eyes weren't focused on hers, but rather, on her mouth.

_Why is he staring at my lips?_

And then it hit her. Clint couldn't hear what she was saying.

Natasha crouched down and gently placed her hand on his cheek. "You can't hear me, can you?"  
She made sure she spoke clearly, so he didn't have to struggle to read her lips.

He looked up from her lips to her eyes, and her heart broke as a tear slipped from his gray-blue eyes, and he shook his head.

Natasha crumpled inside, but she did her best not to let it show. Instead, she stood up, and helped him to his feet. Without saying a word, she told him that they were going to the safe house to await extraction. Clint nodded, and followed her away from the warehouses.

When they arrived back at the safe house, Natasha led him to the bathroom. He was covered in dust and blood, and he needed to shower. She turned on the water for him, but when she made to leave, he reached out and grabbed her wrist. When she turned around, he shook his head once, and she sighed.

Natasha helped him undress, before removing her own clothes, and pulling him into the shower. She led him under the water and allowed the water to soak his hair. She washed his hair thoroughly and washed his body as well. When she was done, he reciprocated the action, loving the feeling of running his hands through her hair.

When they were done, they stepped out of the shower and dried off before tugging sweats on. Clint made to leave the bathroom as Natasha started brushing her hair, but she stopped him. When he turned around, she looked at him, as if appraising him.

Clint smiled, and kissed her forehead. He smiled as he pulled away, ignoring the glare she sent him.

When Natasha emerged from the bathroom moments later, she found Clint lying on the bed. She went over to him, and nudged him. When he didn't respond, she began panicking again. She shook him roughly to no avail. She stood up and ran to where her phone was charging. She punched in Phil's number, and waited for him to pick up.

"Coulson."  
"Phil, we need extraction. Now."  
"Romanoff, the quickest I can get to you is tomorrow."  
"That won't work."  
"Oh, and why's that?"  
"Clint can't hear anything. And he just passed out."  
"What do you mean?"  
"What the hell do you think I mean?! He can't fucking hear! I'll fill you in on everything when you get us the hell out of here!"  
"Fine. I'll see if there are any jets I can get to you."  
"Do it. I don't care what you have to do. Just get here."  
She hung up, and made her way back to the bed. By now, her brain had processed all the information she'd been picking up over the course of the day. She rationalized that he probably had a concussion. But she couldn't know for sure without asking him questions, and that required him to be awake. And she just didn't have the energy to wake him up. Her muscles ached, and she was fighting a losing battle with her eyelids. Finally, she succumbed to sleep, part of her hoping that this would all go away when she woke up.

* * *

As soon as her debriefing was finished, Natasha made her way to SHIELD medical. Phil had gotten a plane to them a few hours after she'd called, and they'd determined that Lint had a concussion, and nothing more serious, at least not that they could determine without a real hospital.

As soon as she reached the medical bay, she went into Clint's room, ignoring the nurse that tried to keep her out.

Clint was unconscious, since the doctor's had had to put him under when he'd tried to leave the medical bay. Natasha sat in the chair by his bed, and reached out to grip his hand.

After an hour or so, the door opened, and Clint's main doctor came in.

"Hello, Agent Romanoff."  
Natasha nodded in response. "What do you know?"  
"Well, He sustained a concussion after the explosion, presumably from hitting his head on the rubble."  
"And his hearing?"  
The doctor sighed. "It's not good."  
"Just say it."  
"It appears that he used a sonic arrow, and that he was too close when it went off."  
"What does that mean?"  
"He lost a decent amount of his hearing. But we won't know the full extent until we can run some tests."  
"Run them."  
"He'll need to be awake, and given what happened when he arrived…"  
"I'll keep him calm. Just do the damn tests."  
The doctor nodded, before leaving the room to get one of the nurses. When the nurses entered, Natasha left the room. She needed a few minutes to collect her thoughts. She'd known his hearing had been screwed up, but part of her had hoped it wasn't going to be permanent. That part was growing smaller and smaller by the minute though.

When she reentered, Clint was awake, and struggling. As soon as he saw his partner though, he relaxed. Natasha stood beside him, and held his hand. Convinced that she wouldn't allow them to hurt him, Clint did the tests the doctors wanted him to. When they were done, the doctors left Natasha and Clint alone.

"You scared the shit out of me, Barton."  
Clint picked up a notepad, and after scribbling for a second, flipped it around for her to read. _Sorry.  
_"What are you using that for? They said you'd still be able to talk."  
Clint paled, and shook his head, while scribbling furiously. _No. Not around anyone else._

Natasha nodded and squeezed his hand gently.

There was a noise behind her at the door, and when she turned around, Clint's doctor was there.

Natasha stood up and made her way over to him.

"Well?"  
"He's lost 80% of his hearing."  
_Shit. _"Anything else?"  
"Not that we found. He should be able to speak the same though. And I'd find someone to teach him sign language. If he wants, he can go to tech, and they'll make him hearing aides. They'll be small, and they'll fit like his comms. They can also make him special comms for missions."  
"Thanks."  
The doctor nodded. "Agent Romanoff?"  
"Yes?"  
"I know he's stubborn, and that he won't want others to know. But make sure he knows that he needs to go to tech. otherwise they won't fit."  
"Ok."  
The doctor nodded once again, and left them alone.

Natasha made her way back to the bed, and sat next to Clint's hip.

"Do you want me to tell you, or write it?"  
_Tell me._

Natasha nodded, and began speaking clearly, reiterating everything the doctor had told her. Putting emphasis on the bit where he had to go get his hearing aides made.

When she was done, she was expecting Clint to start scribbling on the notepad. But all he did was nod, as a single tear slipped from his eye.

Just as it had in Sao Paulo, the single tear broke Natasha's heart. She stood up and made her way to the door, making sure that it was locked. When she returned to the bed, she moved so that she was sitting next to him on the bed. She wrapped her arms around Clint's shoulders, and pulled him into her body. Clint rested her face in her neck, and after a few moments, quiet sobs racked his body. Natasha could feel his tears on her neck, and the thought of Clint Barton, the strongest man she knew, crying, caused tears to slip out of her own eyes, falling into his dirty blonde hair.

* * *

"I don't like these."  
"It's because you're not giving them a chance."  
"They hurt like hell, Tasha."  
"I don't particularly care. You need to wear them so you can get used to them."

Clint sighed but didn't argue.

It had been 3 months since his incident. As soon as he was released, the pair of them had gone to tech to get his hearing aides started. Everyone in the department was sworn to secrecy, under penalty of death by Black Widow and Hawkeye if they ever told a soul that he'd lost the majority of his hearing.

That was also the first time that Clint had tried speaking again. When he'd said his first sentence to Natasha, tears had pooled in her eyes. Thinking the worst, Clint stood and bolted from the room. When Natasha finally caught up with him, she told him that he sounded the exact same. She was crying as she told him that her favorite sound in the world still existed.

He kissed her when she finished talking. Natasha froze at first, before throwing herself into the kiss.

When they broke apart, Natasha smiled up at him.

"Took you long enough." She whispered.

Clint smiled and kissed her again.

When he'd finally gotten his aides, he'd made Natasha talk endlessly to him, just so he could hear her voice again. They made love that night, and Clint had never been happier than he was when she'd screamed his name.

Getting used to them took longer than he'd expected. They were painful, but not unbearably so. He and Natasha had also learned sign language, so whenever they were alone, Clint too his aides out, allowing his ears some peace.

It took at least a year for him to be comfortable with them during missions. But all it had taken to convince him was one mission where Natasha yelled his name, and he heard her. He was able to shoot a zip line, and swoop down and save her, something he never let her live down.

As time went on, Clint learned to live with what happened. He learned the good points of losing his hearing, namely that touch became a large factor of his and Natasha's time together. So while the situation had started out quite desolate, Clint quickly discovered that as long as Natasha stuck by him, he'd make it through anything.

* * *

**I hope this wasn't too depressing! I gave you a happy ending though.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	10. Bucharest

**Hello, My lovelies! Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, I got distracted.  
Because I know someone will yell at me, or at least want to, I know that this chapter doesn't entirely take place in the city I named, but it's where it started. And I have a plan.**

* * *

**Bucharest**

Bucharest was downright fucked up.

It had started exactly as it was supposed to- get in, get the info, kill the mark, get out- but with only two days left, Natasha got sick. It wasn't anything horrible, but Clint was worried the mission would end the same way as the one in Bangladesh had ended.  
In the end, Natasha had convinced Clint to let her finish the mission, promising that they'd actually use their mandatory vacation days after the mission to go to their house in Indiana. Clint was reluctant, but he knew that it wouldn't end well for him if he didn't let her finish.  
The mission had come to a successful conclusion, and one more human trafficker was off the streets.

When they arrived back at SHIELD they were debriefed separately, Clint went with Coulson while Natasha went with Hill.  
Natasha wasn't feeling any better, and Maria could tell. She did her best to speed up the process, and Natasha finally finished a few hours later, long before she knew Clint would finish. The two women went to Natasha and Clint's quarters when they were done, deciding to wait for their respective husbands. Natasha and Clint had been married for a few years, and Natasha was still surprised that the only people who knew were Maria, Phil, and Fury. Everyone speculated that they were sleeping together, but no one else knew the extent of their relationship.

When they arrived, Maria helped Natasha pack for her vacation while they both talked about the men in their lives. Natasha complained about the fact that Clint would never let her sleep in their bed until a nest had been constructed from all the pillows and blankets, and Maria told her that Phil was a sheet hog, so she always woke up freezing.  
They were still talking and laughing when Clint and Phil entered the room, and the four agents sat around laughing together and making fun of each other until Phil and Maria decided to leave for the night. When their friends had gone, Natasha and Clint ate a quick dinner before getting ready for bed. After Clint had determined that the nest was acceptable, Natasha was allowed to collapse onto her side, still exhausted from the mission. Clint crawled in after her and pulled her body closer to his so that he became her pillow.

"You feeling any better, Tasha?"  
"I don't feel like dying, if that's what you mean."  
"Not funny, Tasha."  
"I wasn't trying to be funny, Clint."

Clint chuckled and kissed her head before they fell asleep.

* * *

They left at 5:30 the next morning, having decided to drive rather than fly. Clint was driving while Natasha was sleeping. Before they'd left, he'd created a nest for her in shotgun. There was one pillow leaning against the center consul, another resting on the seat for her head, and after she'd climbed in and gotten situated, he placed a pillow between her back and the door, and he placed a blanket over her body. Natasha was small enough that she as able to comfortably curl up in the seat, and Clint couldn't help but think that she looked like a little girl when she curled up like that. As soon as they were out of the city, Clint reached his hand over to stroke her hair. Without opening an eye, Natasha grabbed his hand and pulled it to her chest, snuggling against it. Clint chuckled and kept driving.

They'd decided not to stop anywhere during the drive, both fully capable of functioning with little sleep and little food. Natasha woke a few times during the drive, but she steadfastly refused to let go of Clint's hand.  
When they finally arrived Natasha was awake, but made no move to get out of the car.

"Tasha." Clint said, "We're here."  
"I know."  
"Are you going to get out?"  
"No."  
"Why?" Clint asked, thoroughly amused.  
"Don't wanna walk."  
"Want me to carry you?"  
"Please."

Clint was chuckling at his wife's tone. She sounded like a 2-year-old who knew they were in trouble. He slid his arms under her body and carried her to the house, shifting her to one arm so he could open the door. He carried her up the stairs and gently placed her on the bed. When he tried to get up, she tightened her arms around his neck.

"Stay." She whimpered.  
"I have to get our stuff, but I'll be back soon."  
Natasha whined but loosened her hold enough to let Clint leave.  
He returned 5 minutes later, having left their things in the living room for them to deal with the next day.  
"Tasha, you gotta change."  
"Don't wanna." She whined. She didn't get sick often, but when she did, she got incredibly whiny.  
"Come on, at least take your pants off."  
"Don't want you in them." She mumbled.  
"Tasha! I'm not trying to get into your pants! I just don't want you to have imprints in the morning."  
Natasha mumbled something unintelligible in response but rolled over, allowing him to remove her pants. As soon as he had them off, he took off her shirt as well.  
After removing his own clothes, Clint circled the bed, arranging the massive amounts of pillows into a nest around his wife's sleeping form. When he deemed it sufficient, he climbed in behind her. She snuggled closer to him and squirmed into his arms. Clint kissed her forehead and fell asleep.

* * *

Clint woke up alone the next morning.

"Tasha?" He called. When he didn't hear a response, he sat up and looked around the room. His eyes landed on the door to the attached bathroom, which had been open the night before. The light peeking out the bottom told him where his wife was. He stood and padded to the door, pausing when he arrived.

"Tasha?" he asked.  
When she didn't answer, he turned the handle, smiling when he found it unlocked. He pushed the door open and stepped in.  
"Natasha!" He cried, running to her side.  
She was sitting on the toilet, not moving. When he reached her, he could see that her whole body was shaking.

"Tasha, baby please. What's wrong?"  
She didn't respond, she didn't even seem to realize that he was there. Carefully, he placed a hand on her cheek, caressing her cheekbone with his thumb. Her eyes flickered to his for a moment before staring ahead again. In that brief moment, he saw fear, confusion, and a hint of joy in her eyes.

"Tasha?" He tried again.  
Without a word, she pointed to the bathtub in front of her. Clint picked up the object she was pointing to.  
"Tasha? What does this mean?"  
She turned back to him, staring at his eyes before whispering. "I'm pregnant."

* * *

**Ha! There you have it.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	11. Fillmore

**So, here's the second part of my last chapter. I told you I had a plan. **

* * *

**Fillmore**

"Tasha?" Clint whispered, not sure he'd heard her.  
"I'm pregnant, Clint."  
"Really?"  
"That says I am, and it makes sense, with the way I've been feeling."  
"I thought the Red Room..."  
"So did I. Apparently they weren't as thorough as they thought they were." Natasha said, wondering what else they'd missed. She already knew that they'd screwed up when they tried to take away her ability to love- she'd figured that out just before she and Clint had started dating. But a part of her was worried that this was another one of their games. That they'd let her get pregnant, and then she would miscarry. It wasn't something she'd put above them, given everything else they'd done to her and the other girls. But Natasha also knew that if this was one of the Red Room's games, Clint would find a way to make it alright, to make sure that they got their happy ending. _And who said assassins can't have happy endings?_ She thought wryly.

Clint was ecstatic, kids had always been something he wanted, but he'd never dared to hope that it would happen with Natasha. And he knew her stance on kids, knew that she didn't really want them.  
"What do you want to do, Tasha?"  
"What do you mean?"  
"About the baby. What do you want to do?"  
Natasha thought for a moment, before turning to face Clint fully. "What do you want?"  
"What I want doesn't matter. It's your body, not mine."  
Natasha sighed, and returned to staring at her lap.  
"Tasha?" Clint whispered, taking one of her hands in his own and lacing their fingers together.  
"I-I think I want to keep it. Abortion was never an option, and if anyone is going to screw our kid up, I want us to be the ones to do it."  
"Really? Tasha, I don't want you to do this because you think it'll make me happy."  
"Really. I always said I didn't want kids, but then I took that stupid test and started thinking that maybe kids, at least with you, wouldn't be so bad."  
Clint smiled and pulled Natasha off the toilet to sit on his lap on the floor. He hugged her tightly to his chest, binging her head just under his chin. He leaned down and breathed in the scent of her shampoo.  
"I love you, Tasha."  
"I love you too, Clint."  
"Who are we telling?"  
"Phil. Because he'll find out anyway. Which means Maria wold know too. And Fury'd kill both of them if they don't tell him. But no one else."  
"Alright."  
"Clint, they'll let us go back to work, right?"  
"Of course. They aren't going to fire their best agents because they decided to have a kid."  
"Ok."  
They sat together a moment longer before clint picked her up and carried her back to their bed. together they crawled back in and fell asleep again, dreaming of all the wonderful things they could do with their child.

* * *

"WHAT THE FUCKING HELL DO YOU MEAN YOU TWO ARE HAVING A KID?" Fury was pissed, that much was clear.  
"Well, sir. Tasha is pregnant. And I'm the father, so..."  
"Clint." Natasha hissed. "You're not helping."  
Clint looked at her, an apology in his eyes.  
"Your wife's right, Barton. Being a smartass won't help your situation." Fury said, his eye glaring at Clint.  
Clint quieted down, and Fury appraised them both. "Look," he finally said. "I'm happy for you guys, I really am. But now I have to find replacements for you, as well as come up with a reasonable explanation for the council without telling them that you're married."  
"I intend to continue working, sir." Clint stated, slightly confused.  
"That's lovely, Barton, but policy dictates that both expectant parents are taken from the field. After your kid is born one or both of you can return to fhe field."  
"Oh. Well, are we on desk duty until then?"  
"I think that would suffice." Fury responded. "You'll keep uour pay. It won't be too difficult that you're on desk duty bdcause of insubordination." Fury chuckled, as did Phil and Maria. Clint and Natasha glared at their friends, causing them to laugh harder, mummbling something about it being true.

"Romanoff, you're off all missions, including surveillance, Barton, you could still be pulled for that, but you won't leave the country. You'll have 6 months maternity leave, and then another month to be evaluated. Don't give me that look, it's protocol."  
Natasha chuckled but nodded her head.  
"I think that covers everything. Now, get out of my office, you both have a month's worth of vacation days you haven't used. So use them. I don't want to find out that you were anywhere near the state."

"Sir?" Natasha asked.  
"I'm telling you to go on vacation."

Natasha was surprised but Clint wasn't spending any more time than absolutly neccessary in Fury's office. He grabbed Natasha's hand and dragged her from the room. They left the hellicarrier quickly and pulled onto the highway, headed back to Fillmore. They would spend their vacation there, before going back to work.

* * *

8 months later, Clint and Natasha were sitting in a SHIELD hospital, surrounded by Phil, Maria, and the Avengers.  
"She's gorgeous, Tasha." Steve whispered.  
And he was right. Aliya Rose Barton was by far the prettiest baby they'd ever seen.

* * *

**Well, there you go. I hope you guys liked it! I know the first draft had a lot of spelling errors, so if you had to muddle through it, I'm sorry. But I was doing it from my phone, and for some reason it wasn't correcting my spelling errors like it normally does. But I think I fixed them all when I went through them. If I missed a few, let me know, but please be respectful. Thank you for reading!  
****Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	12. Rome

**I decided to just add all the one shots I did to this story, since they fit so well. Sorry if you've already read them, but please feel free to read them again.**

* * *

There were many things Natasha loved about Clint Barton. And she really did love them, even if love was for children.

She loved his eyes, how they were stormy when he was mad, how they swirled when he kissed her. She loved how with one look at his eyes, she could know exactly what he was thinking.

She loved his hair, the way his dirty blonde hair was always spiked up. While she'd originally complained that it was unprofessional, after a few months, she'd learned to love it. And now, she couldn't see it as anything other than perfectly matching his personality. It was nice, just a little rough around the edges, just like he was.

She loved his scars, both the ones he'd had before they met, and the ones he'd received during their missions. While he hated them, especially the cigarette burns his father had given them, Natasha loved them. They were a testament to how strong he was, how much he'd overcome. They were like a storybook to his life, with each scar carrying its own story.

She loved his devil-may-care attitude on base. She loved that it was so at odds with his attitude on missions. When he was working, and it was his life or hers on the line, he was a serious as it went. But back on base, he was a regular nuisance. He rarely turned paperwork in on time, he started elaborate prank wars that could last for weeks. He gave people hell, but they respected him, because they knew that as soon as he stepped into the field, the fun and games were put away.

But the thing she loved the most was his heart. It was that that had saved her all those years ago in Volgograd. He'd stared at her with his bow pointed at her chest, and rather than seeing the deadly assassin she'd become, he saw the scared and lonely little girl she'd been. He'd decided to take her in and give her a second chance. It was his heart that saved her, and it was the thing that made her realize, years later, that she'd fallen in love with him along their journey. She'd grown to love the man who'd been sent to kill her. She loved everything about him, his annoying habits, his Midwestern drawl that crept into their conversations when they were alone, but most of all, she loved his ability to care about her and to love her, when she didn't feel worthy of either.

Yes, Natasha Romanoff was in love with Clint Barton. It wasn't smart and it wasn't safe, and one of them, if not both, would end up paying dearly when one of their enemies determined just how deep her crutch went.

But she also couldn't be bothered to give a fuck.

* * *

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	13. Paris

There were many things Clint Barton loved about Natasha Romanoff.

He loved her eyes, the clear green that seemed to bore into his soul. They shone when she was happy, and flashed when she was pissed off. He loved that with one look, they could communicate thousands of things.

He loved her hair, the fiery red that fit her so well. He loved it long, when it reached the middle of her back in ringlets. He loved running his fingers through it, tugging slightly when they kissed. He loved the way it contrasted her pale skin and made her look even prettier than she already was.

He loved her scars, even if she couldn't see what was so great about them. He had his own, but they didn't show nearly as much as hers did. His scars were bullet holes and an abusive father. Hers were an altogether different kind of torture. They were the marks of people taking her apart and putting her back together again, a royally fucked up version of humpty dumpty. He loved that her scars proved she would never lie down and give up.

He loved the way she completely disregarded any orders she didn't agree with. She knew people on base were terrified of her, and she used it to her advantage. She wasn't above scaring lower agents to get what she wanted, knowing that no one had a death wish and therefore wouldn't report her. But he also loved that her attitude shifted completely when she was around people she actually liked, mainly himself, Phil, and Maria. He loved that only a few people got to see her real self.

But the thing he really loved was her heart. It had taken sometime for her to find it, but as he stared down his bow at her, he'd seen it loud and clear. It was her heart that convinced him that she didn't have much of a choice in what she was doing. It was that that convinced him to give her another chance, even when everyone else was telling him how stupid he was being.

After a few months, he realized that he'd fallen in love with her. He couldn't say when it had happened, or even how. All he knew was that it had happened, and it had undoubtedly started with her heart.

Clint Barton loved Natasha Romanoff more than he'd ever loved anyone. He knew it was dangerous, that one or both of them could be hurt by it, but as he held her in his arms every night, a realization hit:  
He really didn't give a single fuck.

* * *

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	14. Albany

Natasha smiled to herself as she looked at Clint. She stared at him for a few moments before finally deciding to make him move.

"Come on, Barton. You're sick, which means you need to be in bed."  
"'M not sick." He replied, making no move to get up.  
"Then why are you lying on the floor in the bathroom?" She challenged.  
"'M resting."  
"Resting? And how is tile more comfortable than a bed?"  
"It is."  
"Clint, come on." When he didn't move, Natasha stepped into their bathroom at Stark Tower and kneeled by his head.  
"No."  
"Clint, I need to check your temperature to see if you need to go to the hospital."  
"I don't. I'm not sick."  
"You've been like this for days."  
"Have not."  
"I'm not starting that again. Just let me take your temperature, please."

Clint finally rolled so that he was facing her. He gave her a doubtful look and shook his head.  
"Clint, stop being so annoying. I just wanna make sure you're not going to die."  
Clint covered his mouth before answering, preventing her from sticking the thermometer in his mouth. "You can't make me."  
Natasha raised an eyebrow at him. "You realize there's more than one hole I can stick this in, right?"  
Clint's eyes widened in fear and shook his head violently.  
"I'm done joking Clint. Either open your mouth, or I'm shoving this up you ass." The fact that she said it in a sweet voice terrified him even more.  
He slowly uncovered his mouth and glared at her. "You're such a bully."  
Natasha stuck the thermometer under his tongue when he was done. "I know." She responded.  
They sat in silence until a beeping indicated that the thermometer could be removed. Natasha took it and sighed.

"102.4. Clint, that's really dangerous."  
"Is not. I'm fine, honest, Tasha."  
"Don't 'Tasha' me. You're sick."  
"No." Clint whined. "I'm just a little hot. But you already knew that, didn't you." He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively, causing Natasha to laugh.  
"You're burning up and you're still trying to get into my pants? Seriously?"  
"What's wrong with that?"  
"You're impossible. Come one, I put new sheets on the bed. They'll be nice and cold."  
"Don't need to move. I have to go into work. Gotta kill bad guys."  
"Nice try. Fury gave you sick leave. Said he'd kill you if you showed up anywhere near base or any missions."  
"You'll have to leave sometime. I'll just sneak out then."  
"Clint, the point of sneaking out is to not tell anybody that you plan on doing it. Anyways, Fury gave me time off to look after you, so I'm sticking by your side 'til you're better."  
"I am better. See?" Clint smiled, but all it did was make him look even worse.  
"Nice try, hotshot. Come on, bed."  
"Oo, Romanoff's trying to get me into bed."  
"If I say yes, will you get up?"  
"Maybe."  
"Fine, I'm trying to get you into bed. Let's go."  
Natasha pulled Clint to his feet and propelled him to bed. He fell face first into his pillow, but made no move to roll over. Natasha sighed as she started to go back to the bathroom.

"What? Now that I'm in bed, you're leaving?"  
"I'm getting medicine, birdbrain."  
"Don't want it."  
"Don't care."  
Natasha returned moments later with some pills for him to swallow.

"Tasha, these things are fucking huge!"  
"That's nice. Swallow them."  
Clint sighed but did as he was told, grimacing as they scraped against his sore throat.

"Good. Now sleep."  
"You're very bossy."  
"I am. But you'll feel better."  
"I feel fine."  
"Whatever, Hawkboy."  
Clint closed his eyes and fell asleep quickly. Natasha made herself comfortable on the bed, running her fingers through his hair. After a few minutes, she leaned in and kissed his head.  
"I love you, you crazy man." She whispered before falling asleep herself.

* * *

The next few days passed in the same manner, with Clint steadfastly denying that he was sick, and Natasha forcing him to take medicine. She had to threaten him constantly to get him to do anything, and she was quickly running out of things to threaten him with. Her most recent threat was that if he didn't take the medicine and stay in bed, she was going to snap his bow into a million pieces and shove each piece up his ass. He'd seen through that, but had taken the medicine anyway, on the off chance that she was serious.

After a week of the same thing, Clint was finally feeling better.

"I'm better, Tasha."  
"You've been saying that, Barton."  
"But this time I mean it."  
"Oh, so the other times you were lying to me?"  
"Well, um… gee, when you put it like that… I wouldn't call it lying… more like…"  
"Just stop, Clint. Before I have to shoot you for lying to me _again_."

Clint sighed and pouted, and Natasha had to remind herself that she did _not _want to laugh at his expression.

"You're such a baby." She muttered as she placed her hand on his head. He felt a lot cooler than he had in the last few days, but she grabbed the thermometer just to make sure.  
"That thing again?"  
"Yes, this thing again. We do it every day. Mouth open, or it goes up your ass."  
Clint sighed and opened him mouth. After a minute, Natasha pulled it out and smiled.

"99.0."  
"So, I'm better?"  
"Well, human body temperature is supposed to be at 98.6, so you're still not completely better…"  
"But human body temperatures fluctuate. And really? Four tenths of a degree is what you're calling 'not completely better'?"  
"Well…"  
"You're gonna miss taking care of me, aren't you?" Clint asked, a satisfied smirk on his face.  
"Of course not. You're a horrible patient."  
"I didn't need a doctor."  
"That's bullshit and you know it."  
"You're avoiding the question."  
"There was no question."  
"Whatever. Can I _please _get out of bed?"  
"Fine. But if you get sick again, I'm not taking care of you."  
"You and I both know that's a lie."  
"Whatever."  
Clint smiled as he climbed out of the bed. He grabbed some clothes and went into the bathroom. Natasha heard the shower turn on, and finally allowed herself to smile. In reality, she'd enjoyed taking care of Clint. It was just them, aside from the few occasions where Bruce had come to check on him, and she was glad to have had some time alone with him. Even though they were dating and spent every night together, unless one of them was on a mission, she felt like they hadn't really had much free time to just sit and talk since they'd joined the Avengers. There weren't any issues, she just missed the easy conversations and comfortable silences that being in his company brought.

She was so lost in her musings that she didn't hear the water turn off or hear Clint open the door.

"Nat? You ok?"  
"What? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just thinking."  
"Are you sure?"  
"I'm fine, Clint."  
"Ok."  
He gave her a doubtful look, but continued to their closet to deposit his dirty clothes. When he was done, he made his way back to the bed, and began stripping the sheets, intending to wash and change them.

"Tasha?"  
"Hmm?"  
"I need to take the sheets off, and you're sitting on them."  
"Oh, sorry."  
When Natasha didn't move to leave the bed, Clint stopped his task.

"Tasha, really, are you ok?"  
"Yeah."  
"Haven't you learned not to lie to me?"  
Natasha chuckled. "I know. It's just…"  
"Just what?"  
"I feel like the last few days were the only days recently that we've just been us. Where we've been alone and could talk and joke around without worrying about other people over hearing."  
"Tasha, that doesn't have to change. We can still spend time together without anyone else around."  
"Promise?"  
"Of course. I love you Tash, and I love spending time with you."  
"Good."  
Natasha stood and helped lint with the sheets and made the bed while he took the others to the laundry room. When he got back to their bedroom, he pulled the covers back and climbed in, pulling Natasha in after him.

"I thought you wanted to get out of bed, Clint."  
"Now I just wanna spend the rest of the day with you."  
Natasha smiled as Clint pulled her close to his chest and kissed her head.

"I love you, Clint."  
"I love you too, Tasha."  
They laid in silence for a while, listening to the other breathe. Just as she was getting sleepy, Natasha decided to tell Clint something.

"Clint?"  
"Yeah?" His sleepy mumble answered.  
"I really did enjoy taking care of you."  
"I figured as much." He responded cheekily.  
"Ass."  
"But you love me."  
"True."  
"Goodnight, Tasha."  
"It's 10 AM."  
"But we're sleeping. So good night."  
Natasha smiled. "Good night, Clint."

She kissed his lips lightly once, and snuggled into his side, burrowing her face in the crook of his neck while his arm wrapped tightly around her. They fall asleep quickly, and managed to sleep through the rest of the day, as well as that night.

* * *

**There you go! I know I should have probably spent more time on Clint actually being sick, but I decided not to, so yeah. Hope you guys liked it.  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	15. Albany pt 2

Natasha Romanoff wanted to die. That was all there was to it, honestly. In this moment, she wanted nothing more than to just die.

So naturally, she told her partner.

"I don't think that'll help, Tasha."  
"But, Clint." Natasha whined.  
"Seriously, Nat. you're just sick."  
"I'm dying."  
"Why are you so overdramatic? It's just a cold."  
"You gave it to me. You're the reason I'm dying."  
Clint sighed. He was currently standing next to their bed, looking at her lying on the floor. "Why are you on the floor?"  
"The bed was too far."  
"It's two steps."  
"Two steps is a lot when you're dying."  
"Tasha! You're not dying!"  
"I might as well be."  
Clint sighed again and stooped to pick her up. She groaned as he lifted her into his arms and turned her face into his chest.

Clint set her on the bed and helped her under the covers.  
"No. It's too hot for those." She protested weakly.  
"Tasha, you're shivering."  
It was true. Her hands were shaking so badly that she could hold anything.  
Clint situated himself next to her and stroked her hair while he waited for the medicine he'd given her a few moments ago to kick in.

"Just let me die in peace, Clint."  
"You're not dying. And if you were, I wouldn't leave you."  
"Really?"  
"Really."  
Natasha smiled slightly and snuggled farther into his chest. She was asleep in minutes.

When she woke up, she realized that she was alone in the bed.  
"Clint?" She called.  
There was no answer, so Natasha slid out of the bed and did her best to ignore the feeling that she was going to pass out.  
"Clint?" She called again as she walked down the hall.  
"Tasha!" Clint said as he came out of the kitchen. "Why aren't you in bed?"  
"You weren't there." She whined.  
"I was getting soup for you."  
"I don't want it." She whined again.  
"I don't particularly care. You need to eat."  
"But, Clint." She whined again.  
"Save it, Tash. Back to bed."  
"Why are you trying to get me to bed?" She asked cheekily, still managing to whine.  
"Tasha, just go."

Natasha sighed but made her way back to the bedroom. She threw herself face first onto the bed, and Clint had to physically roll her over when he followed her in. he helped her sit up against the headboard to eat the chicken soup he'd made.

"It's hot." She whined.  
"It's soup. It's supposed to be hot."  
"It's too hot."  
Clint sighed. He loved Natasha, he really did. But he was still having a hard time believing that anyone could be this whiny.  
"What do you want me to do, Nat?"  
"Blow on it."  
"What?"  
"My soup is too hot to eat."  
"So you want me to blow on it?"  
"Yes." She whined.  
_God, she sounds like a two year old!  
_"Fine." Clint grumbled. He ignored the smile that grew on Natasha's face as he gently blew on the liquid she held out to him.  
"Much better." Natasha said as she placed the liquid in her mouth.  
They continued this until the soup was completely gone. Clint tried to get up to take the bowl back to the kitchen, but Natasha's whines stopped him.

"Why are you leaving me?"  
"I'm not, I'm cleaning up."  
"Don't."  
Clint sighed. He placed the bowl on the nightstand and helped Natasha resituate herself. She drifted off to sleep with her head on his chest and her body curled into his. Clint carefully combed her hair with his fingers, loving the way it felt against his fingers.  
"I love you, you crazy lady." He murmured before kissing her head.

* * *

When Natasha woke up later, she decided that she wanted a shower, and that Clint needed to help her.

"Why?"  
"My body hurts."  
"Really? Cause I'm starting to think you got sick just to get into my pants."  
"Why would I go through all of this to get you naked when all I have to do is give you one look, and just rip them off myself?" Natasha asked.  
"I don't know, I'm not the crazy assassin."  
Natasha pretended to look hurt, so Clint gave her a kiss on the forehead.  
"Fine, I'll shower with you, but no funny business, understand?"  
"Clint, that's no fun!" Natasha whined.  
"That's the deal, or you're on your own."

Natasha sighed but nodded, and pulled Clint to the bathroom with her. They emerged 45 minutes and only two scoldings for inappropriate behavior later.  
"I still don't see why you thought it was a good idea to have sex in the shower when you're sick, Tasha." Clint said, thoroughly annoyed with her behavior.  
"We've done it before, and it was fun."  
"It was amazing last time. But last time, you didn't almost black out and fall out of the shower after hitting your head on the wall."  
"You're making it sound worse than it was!"  
Clint sighed, deciding that answering would start another argument, and he didn't have the energy for that.

"Tell you what, after you get better, we can have all the shower sex you want."  
"Is it limited to just the shower?"  
"No. after you're better, however many days you were sick is how many days I'll give you for us to have sex wherever you want, so long as it's sanitary."  
"Deal. Now make me some soup."  
Clint chuckled and kissed her head before leaving. He vaguely heard Natasha call a thank you down the hall, but he couldn't really be sure.

He returned a few minutes later and after going through the soup thing again, Natasha was ready to sleep again. Clint cleaned up their floor a bit while she slept, ensuring that it didn't look like a bunch of heathens lived there. After a few hours, Natasha found him cleaning the kitchen.

"Tasha, bed." He called without even looking at her.  
"I wanna watch a movie." She whined.  
"Fine. Go get into the bed, and I'll be there soon. Then JARVIS can start a movie for us, ok?"  
"Fine."  
Clint entered the bedroom 5 minutes later, and instructed JARVIS to put on the first Harry Potter movie. 30 minutes later, Natasha was asleep.

* * *

They spent the next few days sitting in their room watching Harry Potter movies. The morning after Deathly Hallows pt. 2, Natasha's fever was gone, and she was back to being her normally abnormal self.

After cleaning their room, Natasha dragged Clint into their bathroom, siting promised shower sex as the reason he needed another shower 2 hours after his previous one.

Clint sighed but followed her into the bathroom, thinking _God, I love this woman_ the entire way.

* * *

**I hope you guys liked this, I was having fun writing different things for Natasha to whine about. I realize that she is extremely out of character, but I don't see why a master assassin can't whine when they get sick, especially if they don't usually get sick.  
**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	16. Above Buenos Aires

Natasha and Clint were walking toward the training center together, having just been in Fury's office.

"So, what's her name?" Natasha asked.  
"Catherine Stevens." Clint answered after consulting the file in his hands.  
"What's Fury want you to do with her?"  
"Show her around. He paired her with me because apparently she uses a bow."  
"Oh, God, there's another one of you?" Natasha joked.  
Clint shot her a playfully hurt look but paid her comment no more attention.  
"We still on for tonight?" Natasha asked, changing the subject.  
"Like I would miss date night? Barring spontaneous missions, I'm there."  
"It's hardly date night, Clint."  
"I think it is. We're dating, it's night."  
Natasha sighed. "Whatever, hot sauce."  
Clint looped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer to his body, dropping a kiss on her head. They broke apart just before they entered the training center.

As soon as they entered, a woman ran up to Clint.  
"Are you Agent Barton?" she asked, brown eyes wide with what appeared to be longing. Natasha rolled her eyes slightly, not moving from Clint's side.  
"I am. You're Catherine Stevens?"  
"You can call me Cat." She practically purred. Natasha fought back a snort at her tone. People were constantly flirting with her and Clint.  
"Um… ok." Clint said, seeing the lust in Cat's eyes.  
"What can I call you?" She asked.  
"Agent Barton is fine."  
"That doesn't really roll off the tongue. Are you sure there's _nothing_ else I can call you?" Cat ran her hands up his arms so that they rested on his chest as she leaned in. Natasha was filled with rage at her forwardness. Just because people routinely flirted with her and Clint didn't mean she liked it.  
Clint backed away from the overeager agent. He wrapped his arm around Natasha's shoulders and pulled her to him again. "I'm sure." He said evenly.

Cat finally seemed to acknowledge Natasha's presence, and she shot the other woman a dirty look.  
"I'll leave you two to whatever the hell Fury wants you to do. See you later, Clint." Natasha emphasized Clint's name, and kissed his cheek on her way out. As she walked away, she heard Cat's humph of indignation, and didn't try to hide her satisfied smile.  
Hours later, Natasha sat in her and Clint's quarters. He was an hour late for their 'date night', and Natasha tried telling herself that she wasn't annoyed. She heard her phone go off, and she flipped it open, reading the text.

_Fury sent me on surveillance. I'll be back in a few days. Sorry, Tash.  
Love you,  
C._

Natasha sighed as she turned the TV off. She made her way to Clint's bedroom and pulled her pajamas on. SHIELD gave them their own quarters, but for some reason still insisted on giving them separate bedrooms, even though everyone on base knew they were together. Natasha fell asleep quickly, trying not to wonder if Cat was with Clint on his mission.

* * *

The next few days were absolute hell. Cat wasn't with Clint, but she seemed intent on breaking him and Natasha up. After the first day, Natasha decided to spend the rest of Clint's mission hanging out with Maria and complaining about random things.

When Clint finally returned, he immediately made his way to the training center where he knew she'd be. As soon as he walked in, Natasha was in his arms, kissing him. They finally broke apart, laughing at the catcalls from the few SHIELD agents in the room.

"Hey." Natasha said breathlessly.  
"Hey." Clint answered.  
"Barton!" Coulson called as he entered the room. "Fury wants you in his office."  
Clint sighed, but after kissing Natasha again, he made his way to the director. Natasha knew his debrief could take a while, so she went back to their rooms to wait for him. When midnight had come and gone, Natasha decided to go to bed.

She woke the next morning to discover that Clint wasn't in bed with her, nor did it appear that he'd even come in the night before. Natasha showered and dressed quickly before setting out to look for him.

When she finally found him, it was in the hallway outside the mess hall.

"Hey." She said.  
"Hi, sorry about last night."  
"You didn't come to bed. Where were you?"  
"Cat wanted to shoot."  
"Oh."  
"I'm sorry, Tasha." Clint said as he pulled her into his arms.  
"Clint! You still need to finish showing me around."  
Natasha flinched slightly at the annoying voice. It was so slight that most people wouldn't have noticed, but Clint wasn't most people. He rubbed her back and quickly kissed Natasha before leading Cat down the hall. Natasha tried to ignore the feeling in her stomach as she watched Cat lean in close to Clint.

* * *

The next week passed in much the same manner. Natasha and Clint would try to make plans, but Cat always came up with something that pulled him away. The final straw came a week and a half after Cat showed up on base.

Natasha hadn't been in the best mood lately. She was getting annoyed with hardly seeing her boyfriend, and she definitely wasn't pleased with Cat's behavior. She walked into their quarters intent on taking a nap, but when she entered her bedroom to look for a particular shirt, she stopped in her tracks. The water was on in the attached bathroom, and her clothes were laid out on her bed. Not a moment later, the water turned off, and a few moments after that, Cat came out of the bathroom with a towel wrapped around her midsection.

"What the fuck are you doing in here?!" Natasha screeched.  
"Oh! Sorry. Clint said this was just an extra room and I could use it whenever I wanted." She responded.  
"Oh really? Well, I'm telling you that this is my room, and you need to get your ass out before I shoot you."  
"Don't get your panties in a knot, sweetie." Cat replied.  
Natasha snapped. Before Cat could blink, a knife was sailing past her head, missing her ear by a millimeter. "Get. Out." Natasha hissed, another knife in her hand.  
"Ok, I'm going." Cat said. She made her way to the bed and began picking up Natasha's clothes.  
"No. You're not wearing my clothes. You get to walk around base in just the towel. After all, you broke into someone else's room to shower when you could have gone to your own room."

Cat rolled her eyes as she pushed past Natasha, and Natasha had to work to control her anger so that she didn't shoot the woman in the head. When Cat was gone, Natasha grabbed some other clothes and made her way to Clint's bedroom to use his shower, not wanting to use her own until it was thoroughly cleaned out. But when Natasha stepped into Clint's room, she stopped in her tracks yet again. Someone's underwear and clothes were strewn around the room, and they weren't hers or Clint's. She knew without a second thought that the clothes belonged to Cat. What she didn't know was why the other woman's clothes were in her boyfriend's room.

_Don't be stupid, Natasha. You know exactly why._

Before she was aware of what she was doing, Natasha had Cat's clothes burning in the sink. When they were sufficiently charred, Natasha grabbed her duffle bag and shoved a few changes of clothes inside. She ran out of her room and nearly ran into Clint as she tried to leave the quarters he was entering.

"Whoa there, Tasha." He said. When he noticed the look in her eyes, his expression changed. "Tasha? What's wrong?"  
"Like you don't know? Don't treat me like an idiot, Clint, please."  
"Tasha?"  
"Are you happy? You finally broke the Black Widow. You broke me right in half. Are you proud of yourself?"  
Before Clint could answer, Natasha pushed past him and left him standing in the doorway of their quarters. She hurried down the hall until she was standing in front of a similar looking door. She took a deep breath before raising her hand and knocking. The door opened moments later.

"Tasha?"  
"Maria. Can I stay with you for a few days?"  
Maria could tell that Natasha was about to start crying, so she opened the door wider and gestured for Natasha to enter. Natasha dropped her bag by the door and made her way to the couch. As soon as she heard the door close, Natasha let the tears flow from her eyes.

"Tasha? What happened?"  
"He-he's…"  
"Clint?"  
"Yeah."  
"What did he do?"  
"He slept with her."  
"Who?"  
"Cat." Natasha hissed her name.  
"That new agent?"  
"Yeah. He slept with her, and pretended that he didn't know what I was talking about."  
"Oh, Tasha."  
"Why did he do it, Maria?" Natasha was sobbing now, and it broke Maria's heart to see her friend so broken up.  
"I don't know, Tasha. Do you know for sure that he did?"  
"Her clothes were all over his floor. And when I walked into my room, she was just coming out of my shower, and was going to put on my clothes. What else could it be?"

Maria really didn't want to believe that Clint would cheat on Natasha, but there didn't seem to be another explanation.  
"What are you going to do, Tasha?"  
"I might go back." She whispered.  
"To the Red Room? Why? I thought they'd kill you if you ever went back."  
"They will."  
"Tasha?"  
"I could ask them to take the memories away."  
"What?"  
"Feeling nothing has to be better than feeling this."  
"Feeling what?"  
"Like he ripped my heart out. I'm not built to handle human emotions. I can't deal with all of this." Tears were rolling from Natasha's eyes, and her sobs were making it increasingly difficult to understand her words. Maria made her way to Natasha's side and pulled the assassin into her arms. When Natasha had calmed down slightly, Maria stood up.

"Maria?"  
"Shh. I'll be right back."  
Maria watched as Natasha nodded and curled herself into a little ball on the couch. Maria stepped out of her quarters, and after making sure that the door was closed, she took off running toward the mess hall. She spotted Clint as soon as she entered the room.

"Clint Barton!" She screamed.  
"Hill?"  
"Shut up. You're a complete ass!"  
"What?"  
"I said shut up! Your girlfriend is currently having a breakdown in my living room! So get your head out of your ass and go do whatever the hell you have to do to fix it."  
Maria turned on her heel and stormed away. Clint stood in the mess hall for a few seconds, ignoring the silence that engulfed the room. Then he took off running.  
"Maria!" He called down the hall.  
"What?" She snapped.  
"What's wrong with Nat?"  
"I don't know, it might have something to do with the fact that you cheated on her."  
"What?! I didn't!"  
"Then why did she find someone else's clothes in your bedroom?"  
"What?"  
"Natasha found Cat in her bathroom, and Cat's clothes in your bedroom. So she burned the clothes and came to my quarters. So fix it."

Clint watched as Maria stormed away. Suddenly everything made sense, Natasha's words, the ashes in his sink, everything.  
He ran toward the gym, where he found Cat talking with some other new agents.

"Hey, Clint!" She called, skipping up to him.  
"Shut up. Catherine Stevens, you're done with SHIELD. You're no longer qualified to be an agent. You will pack your things and be gone within the hour. If you're not, well, you don't want to know. If I ever see you again, I will kill you. Do you understand?"  
"Did your stupid partner put you up to this?"  
Clint had a knife to her throat in a second. "You say one more thing about my partner, and I'll slit your throat before I shoot an arrow through your eye sockets." He hissed. "I want you gone. You royally fucked up my life and my relationship, not to mention my future safety in the field." Clint turned and walked away. When he got to the door, he stopped and turned to face Cat.

"And next time you decide to try and break up a relationship and a partnership, make sure you can actually use the god dammed weapon you claim you can use. You're worse than a two year old at archery. One hour."  
Then Clint was out the door and hurrying toward Maria's quarters. He passed her in the halls, and told her what he'd told Cat about leaving. Maria nodded in agreement and went to make sure that she followed his instructions.

When he got to Maria's quarters, the door was unlocked. He took a deep breath and opened the door.

* * *

Natasha heard the door open, and footsteps entering the room.  
"You know what the worst part is, Maria? He ripped my heart out, and I still fucking love him. How sick is that?"  
"I still love you too, Tasha." Clint whispered.

Natasha rolled over to face the door, her heart rate quickening.

"What do you want?"  
"To explain. But first, I just want you to say anything and everything that you want to say to me. And I won't defend myself until you're done."  
Natasha took a deep breath and nodded, before she began. "You're an ass. You fucking slept with her. I wouldn't have cared if you'd told me that you wanted to take a break or whatever. But instead you just fucked her. I told Maria that I wanted to go to the Red Room and have them take the memories of you out of my head, even if they'd kill me after. Anything would be better than this. I'd rather feel nothing than feel like this. Like you ripped my heart out. I want so much to be mad at you, but I can't. Because despite everything, I still fucking love you. I love you so much it hurts. You made me trust you, and then you made me love you. I can't deal with this many emotions, but you make me feel them all the time. I'm still barely human, and all of this is killing me. I want to hate you, but I just keep loving you. You broke me, Clint. You fucking broke me."  
There was silence when she was done, but Clint couldn't stop hearing the raw emotion that her voice had held.

"I'm sorry, Tasha. I'm so incredibly, fucking, sorry. I didn't sleep with her, I never would have. She did all of that on purpose because she knew there was nothing I'd be able to do. But I told her to get out, and that I'd kill her if I ever saw her again, and I will. I don't expect you to trust me anymore, honestly I don't. But I swear to you that I'd never hurt you like that. I told you all those years ago that I'd keep you safe, and I think I did an ok job. And then when we started dating, I told you that I'd never break you like those other men did. And it's killing me that I broke that promise to you. All I can say is that you're all I've ever wanted, and that's never going to change. I don't care if there are a million other girls, you're the only one I want."  
"But why?" Natasha cut in. "Why do you want me? I've been broken into a million pieces too many times to count. I've had so many things shoved into my head that I still don't know what's what half the time. Why do you want me, when you can have her? When you can have someone who's not broken?"  
"Because, I've been broken too. I know what it's like to be hurt by the people you thought were there to protect you. I'll never say that my childhood was as bad as yours was, but it was similar. I was used over and over again, made to feel worthless when I failed. I fucking killed my own brother! I was torn apart and pieced back together, but every time, something else was taken of myself, and replaced with someone else. I don't want someone who's never been broken. They don't understand us. I want you, only you. Before we were together, we started slowly learning how to fix each other. That's what I want. We'll always be broken, but with time, we can be a little less broken. That's why I need you Tasha. You keep me sane. You make me know who I am when I don't know anymore."  
Natasha stared at Clint for a moment. Suddenly she was across the room with her arms wrapped tightly around his waist. Clint stiffened slightly, but then he relaxed and pulled her even closer to him. He hugged her tightly and burrowed his face in her hair.

"I fucking love you, Tasha. I'm so sorry this shit happened."  
"I love you too. I didn't want to believe you did it, but how could I ignore the evidence?"  
"You don't have to explain yourself, Tasha. I fucked up because I let Cat get between us. I put her ahead of you, and that's unacceptable. And you know what the worst part was?"  
"What?"  
"She can't even shoot a fucking bow!"  
Natasha laughed at that, one of her real laughs. "I love you, Clint."  
"I love you too, Nat."  
"Now that you two made up, can I get my room back?"  
Natasha and Clint turned around to find Maria standing in the doorway, smiling at them.

"Sorry, Maria."  
"Don't worry about it, Tasha. Clint, if you ever do that again, I'll end you. Understood?"  
"Yes, Maria."  
"Good. Now get out. Fury gave you both a week off, so get off base and do whatever it is couples do."  
Clint smiled as he grabbed Natasha's bag and led her into the hall. They walked back to their quarters with their arms around each other's waists, and Natasha's head on Clint's shoulder. When they entered their rooms, they went into Natasha's room, and Clint helped her clean her bathroom with bleach. When she felt it was clean enough, they showered together. They ended up not actually getting clean, preferring to just hold each other under the warm spray. When they were done, they climbed into Natasha's bed and fell asleep as Clint wrapped his body around Natasha's.

* * *

**I hope you guys liked it. I know Natasha seems a little out of character, but underneath all her programming, she's still a person, or at least she was. And she does say that she wasn't built to handle that many human emotions. Besides, this is all in my head, which means I could have them do anything I wanted. So yeah. But seriously, I hope you guys liked it.**

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	17. Above Portland

A month after the New York incident, Maria Hill was handed an envelope. It was plain, with only her name scrawled on the front. But she knew the handwriting almost better than her own.

She quickly made her way to her office and read through the letter quickly. When she was done, she called Natasha and Clint into her office. When they arrived she had them sit down and she began reading the letter aloud to them.

_Maria-  
I really hope you never read this letter, because if you're reading it, then it means I'm not coming back.  
As soon as I met you, I liked you. You're tough, smart, and you don't care what people think about you, as long as they respect you. Years ago, I went to Fury and asked him to promise that if anything ever happened to me, you'd become Natasha and Clint's handler. I knew that while you all would miss me, they'd know you well enough, and hopefully trust you enough, to listen to you when they're on missions. Fury agreed, for which I am very grateful._

_I thought it would be nice of me to leave you some tips on being their handler, just to make it easier to deal with them:  
First- They get hurt a lot, get used to it. But don't ever expect them to stay in medical for more than 30 minutes, unless one of them is in a coma. It won't happen, and they're better at patching each other up anyways._

_Second- Natasha is prone to panic attacks when something reminds her of the Red Room. Don't even try to help her; it'll end with you in medical. When it happens, find Clint; he can calm her down in a few minutes. If he's on a mission, try calling him. If he doesn't answer, the only other thing that will work is to lock her in a room and let her sort it out by herself._

_Third- When Clint has nightmares, he'll go to the shooting range and shoot arrows until he falls asleep standing up, and he'll still keep shooting. There's really nothing you can do, at least nothing I've found. Just make sure that there are always a few quivers full of arrows for him._

_Fourth- Just because they're assassins doesn't mean they don't need to have fun. Their main form of decompression usually involves pranks around base. Don't try to stop it, just let them have their fun. The base might need cleaning afterward, but you'll have non-stressed assassins, and that's far more important than a clean base._

_Fifth- Sending Natasha to Russia is a bad idea in general. Only bad things happen there, and having Clint with her doesn't make them any better. So avoid it like the plague. Even if you have to bribe or blackmail other agents into going, it's worth it to keep her out. She'll tell you why eventually._

_Sixth- This is perhaps the most important one. The first time you read this, they will likely be gone. Don't worry. They're in Washington with my mom, spending time with their twins, Kira and Luka. You'll get to meet them eventually, they're really the sweetest kids I've ever met. After every mission, make sure they have a week to spend with their kids, no matter what. After you meet them, I'm sure you'll try to get them even longer off. Don't. Any more than a week with their kids between missions makes them not want to go back. And then they get bored, and bored assassins are just as bad as stressed assassins._

Maria finished reading the letter and looked at the assassins and children in question. Phil was right, Kira and Luka were adorable. Kira had bright red, straight, hair that just brushed her shoulders, and blue-gray eyes. Luka had sandy blonde hair that was done in spikes just like Clint's, and his bright green eyes matched Natasha's perfectly.

"Mama, does this mean Uncle Phil's never coming home?" Kira asked, eyes brimming with tears.  
"He's not coming home Kira, but he'll always be with us. Remember?" Luka said before their parents could answer. Kira nodded and gave her twin a hug from her position on Clint's lap. Natasha pulled Luka onto her lap and hugged him close, tears slipping from her eyes. Clint hugged Kira tighter to his chest and buried his face in her hair, refusing to let anyone see the tears falling.

After a few moments, Natasha and Clint had managed to pull themselves together enough to leave with their family. They still had a month's leave left, and intended to visit one of their safe houses.

"Thank you, Maria." Natasha said as she closed the door."  
"You're welcome." Maria whispered, a second too late.

She reread the letter once more before deciding to leave for the day.

* * *

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	18. Malibu

"Will that be all, Ms. Potts?"  
"Yes, Natalie. You have the weekend off, so please be here at 9:30 on Monday morning."  
"Very well, Ms. Potts."

Natasha left the office and made her way to the parking garage; it had definitely been a long week. Working for Stark Industries wasn't the walk in the park Natasha had expected. She rarely got off work before 10, so the fact that it was only 5:30 and she was off for the entire weekend was a bit of a shock. Natasha made her way to the garage and got in the car Stark had given her to use. The drive to the house she was renting didn't take long, and by the time she turned onto her street, she'd loosened her hair so that it was falling down her back. She slowed the car when she realized that another car was in the driveway.

She parked next to the mystery car and silently made her way to the front door. It was locked, so Natasha quietly unlocked the door and stepped inside. She pulled her gun from her thigh holster and made her way through the house, checking each room for an intruder. There was no sign of anyone else until she opened the door to her bedroom. She smiled as she took in the sight in front of her.

Clint Barton was lying in her bed, surrounded by her pillows. She walked over to him and sat on the edge of the bed. She gently placed her hand on his cheek, and traced his face. Clint mumbled something as he slowly woke up.

"Hey." Natasha whispered when he finally opened his eyes.  
"Hey." He replied, voice thick with sleep.

Natasha kissed his forehead before standing and walking to her closet. She pulled off her pencil skirt and blouse, sighing as she pulled on the comfortable shirt and boxers she'd taken from Clint.  
"Where do you find time to steal so many of my clothes?"  
Natasha didn't reply, choosing to simply shoot him a smile instead. She went into he attached bathroom and took off her make-up. When she was done she returned to the bed and looked at Clint.

"Is there room in the nest for me?" She asked.  
"There's always room in the nest for you, Tasha." He responded as he shifted over to give Natasha room to lie next to him.

Natasha climbed in the bed and laid her head on his chest, allowing him to wrap his arms around her and pull her close.

"Did I know you were coming?" Natasha asked.  
"Nope. Fury gave me time off, and a well-placed phone call from Coulson had Potts giving you the weekend off." Clint nuzzled her head and breathed in the scent of her shampoo.  
"Thank you." Natasha whispered as Clint kissed her head. "Stark is driving me crazy. I'm at the office all the time, and he's constantly hitting on me."  
Clint stiffened. "What?" He hissed.  
"Don't worry, Clint. I've made it clear that I'm taken. Besides, Stark's in love with Potts."

Clint huffed, and was still tense.  
"Clint, don't worry about anything happening. Stark is a jackass. Besides, I love you, remember?"  
Clint relaxed and kissed Natasha again. "Sorry, Tasha. I love you."  
"I know you do." They fell into a comfortable silence, basking in each other's presence.  
"So what do you want to do with your time off?" Clint finally asked.  
"Does not leaving the nest count?  
"Nope. I haven't seen you in person in months. We're getting out and doing normal couply things."  
Natasha sighed. "Fine. I don't actually know what these is to do here. I don't really get out much."  
"We can go to the beach tomorrow." Clint suggested.  
"Fine. But can we just focus on being here now? I haven't seen you, and I missed you."  
"I missed you too, Tash." Clint replied.

They returned to silence, and fell asleep soon after, happy to finally have the other with them.

* * *

"Clint!" Natasha shrieked. "What was that for?"  
"You weren't getting in the water, Tasha." He replied easily.  
"Maybe it's because I didn't want to get wet." She responded, trying not to laugh while glaring at him.

They were currently at one of the various beaches in California, and while Clint was having fun splashing around, Natasha was perfectly happy to just sit in the sand, thank you very much.  
"That's not the point of the beach, Tasha." Clint said, as if scolding her.

Natasha just rolled her eyes, choosing not to reply. Before she knew what was happening, Clint had run at her and pulled her into his arm. She instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist, and then just as suddenly, she and Clint were in the water, soaking wet.

"Clint!" Natasha screamed while laughing. "What the hell?"  
"Now you have to get wet." He said clearly proud of himself.

Natasha wanted to be mad, but she couldn't find it in herself when he looked at her like that. Clint seemed to realize this, and made his way to her and lifted her again, so that her legs wrapped around his waist. Natasha leaned in and kissed him, relishing in the feel of his lops against her own.

Natasha traced his lips with her tongue before pushing her tongue inside. Clint kissed her back, putting all his passion and love into the kiss. They stood in the ocean making out with the water sloshing around their hips. Finally, they couldn't control themselves and decided to go back to her house to continue before they got arrested for public indecency. They spent the rest of the day wrapped up in each other's arms, loving the fact that the person they loved more than anything was there with them.

* * *

On Sunday, Clint and Natasha decided to just spend the day together. They didn't have a particular plan, having decided to see where the day took them. They woke around 9:30, and by 11:30 they'd showered and finished breakfast and were wandering around one of the parks nearby. It was a nice day out so the park was fairly crowded, and the sound of laughing kids filled the air. Clint and Natasha made their way to one of the few open benches and sat down to begin eating the picnic they'd put together.

"Are you leaving tomorrow?"  
"Yeah, my plane leaves at 8:00 tomorrow morning. Coulson needs me back in New Mexico."  
"Really?"  
"I'm afraid so. It shouldn't be too much longer. And Fury said we were getting a vacation when both of our missions were done, so we can go visit the house in Switzerland, or France, or any of the other places we have houses in."  
Natasha leaned into Clint's shoulder and rested her head in the crook of his neck. "That sounds nice."  
"I know. God, I miss you, Tasha."  
"I miss you too. I hate when they split us up."  
"You and me both, sweetie."  
"No. Remember what I said, Clint? I get to stab you every time you call me a ridiculous name."  
"That was hardly ridiculous."  
Natasha's only response was to pull out the knife she had strapped to her thigh and press it lightly against his leg.  
"God, that's really hot." Clint said, and from the look in his eyes, Natasha could tell he honestly thought it was hot.  
"I don't know what to do with you anymore." She complained.  
"Keep me." Clint said easily.  
"I intend to." Natasha whispered, long after Clint gave up hope of getting a response.

He smiled and wrapped his arm around her to hug her tightly. They watched the people around them enjoying the sunshine, occasionally laughing or talking about nothing in particular. Around 2, they decided to go back to the house and watch movies for the rest of the night. After getting Chinese food that night, they fell asleep watching Mission Impossible. When it was over, Clint managed to wake up enough to carry Natasha to the bedroom, where he constructed a nest around her before crawling in next to her. He kissed her head, and was out for the night.

* * *

"Call me when you land, ok?"  
"I'll try. But I'll definitely call when I'm back at base."  
Natasha nodded. "Ok."  
They were sitting in Natasha's car in the drop off area at LAX, simply staring at each other. Natasha hadn't made a move to unlock the doors, and Clint wasn't complaining.

Eventually though, he had to leave.

"Come on, Tasha. Get out and give me a hug. Pretend you like me."  
Natasha smiled as she unlocked the doors. "I don't like you. I love you."

Clint smiled and climbed out of the car. Natasha followed, and walked in front of the car to stand on the curb while he grabbed his bag from the back seat. He set it on the ground and pulled her into his arms. Natasha tucked her head under his chin and pressed her face into his chest, breathing deeply. Clint's hands gripped Natasha's back and pulled her closer, with his face burrowed in her hair.

"I love you, Tasha."  
"I love you too, Clint." She whispered.  
Clint kissed her head and pulled back slightly to look into her eyes. He could tell that she was trying not to let her sadness show, but it was a futile effort.

"It'll be ok, Tash. Just a few more months, and we'll get to go on vacation."  
"I know. I just miss you holding me every night." She confessed.  
"I know. I miss holding you too." He answered.  
He pulled her in for another kiss, putting all his love and passion into it. They were both a little breathless when they parted, but neither of them minded.

"I love you." She whispered.  
"I love you too." He answered. "Remember. When this is all done, we're going to visit all of our houses."

She smiled and gave him one last peck on the lips before forcing him to go, knowing he wouldn't leave on his own.  
When he was out of sight, she got back in her car and drove to work, hoping for a shorter day.

Around 12, her phone told her she had a text, and she eagerly opened the device.

_Just landed. I can't call you until tomorrow, but I'll make sure to text you before bed.  
__Love you.  
__-C_

Natasha smiled as she put her phone away and made her way to the conference room.

She was in luck. Pepper let her off at 6:30, and Natasha practically raced home. She heated up some of the leftover food, and ate it while she watched TV. At 9, her phone went off again.

_Goodnight, beautiful. I love you. Call you in the morning?  
__-C_

Natasha smiled as she texted back with an affirmative and made her way to the bedroom. She pulled on one of his shirts and a pair of boxers before taking off her makeup. When she returned to her bed, she noticed that something was off. Carefully pulling back the covers, a smile crossed her face. Before they'd left that morning, Clint had snuck back into her bedroom and made her a nest to sleep in. She crawled in and smiled as she hugged the pillow he'd been using tighter.

She checked her phone once more, finding another text from Clint.

_Remember, don't kill Stark. We'll travel the world when we're done, so come up with some good ideas for what to do in every place.  
__-C_

Natasha chuckled as she closed her eyes, not realizing that before they were able to go around the world, they'd have to fight off an army from another one.

* * *

**Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	19. Budapest

**So this was originally part of my one-shot week, but I thought it fit well in this story, so I decided to upload it as part of this current story. On a side note, I'm running low on new ideas, so as soon as I finish with those, I'll probably end the story. If you have anything you think I need to add to this one, feel free to let me know, and I'll see if I can come up with something.**

* * *

Phil ran into medical, determined to kill anyone dumb enough to get in his way. He wasn't frantic by any means, but the fact that he was as calm as he was, given everything that had just happened, was even more terrifying than any other alternatives.

"Where are they?" He asked the receptionist.  
"Barton's in 324, Romanoff's in 325." She stammered.  
"Why the fuck are they in separate rooms?" He demanded.  
"SHIELD protocol states that…"  
"Do I look like I give a fuck about protocol? They're my agents, and when they wake up, they'll be pissed when they don't see each other. So get them a room together."

The receptionist nodded weakly and made a phone call. When she was done, she told Phil to wait 5 minutes before making his way to room 341.  
Phil nodded and started walking down the hall. He found the room, and when he entered, he finally smiled as he saw the two agents lying in their beds. They would have looked peaceful, if they weren't both in a coma.  
Phil put a chair in between their beds and sat down, shaking his head. "What am I going to do with you two?" He whispered.

* * *

_"Clint! What are you doing?" Natasha shrieked as my fingers continued their attack on her waist.  
"What do you think I'm doing, Tasha? I'm tickling you."  
"Why?!" She shrieked again, trying her best not to laugh.  
"My guess is because he thought it would be funny. If you two are done, Fury wants to see you." Phil interrupted from the doorway.  
"Wow, Phil. Great timing." I said, shooting my handler an evil glare. It would have been more effective I'm sure, if I wasn't also trying not to smile at Phil.  
"I do my best." Phil replied, smiling at Nat and I._

_Natasha and I sighed and stood up from the couch and followed Phil down the hallway to the conference room Fury was waiting in.  
"Agents." He said by way of greeting. Natasha and I nodded in response and took our seats._

_"Imre Kovács has become a problem. His gunrunning business has caused the deaths of numerous civilians, he's dangerous and it's your job to take him out."  
"Where?" Natasha asked. She'd seen that he had many operating bases in various countries. The main one seemed to be in Hungary, and his name suggested that he was Hungarian. But it never hurt to ask._

_"Budapest." Fury affirmed.  
"When?" I asked.  
"2 hours." Fury replied. "Get in, kill the target, get out."  
We nodded as we read through the files in front of us.  
"Dismissed." Fury said, and we stood to leave.  
We walked down the halls silently, memorizing our covers. We quickly threw our things together, and made our way to the plane.  
"Ready, Tasha?" I asked as the plane took off.  
"Of course, Clint. What could possibly go wrong in Budapest?" She asked.  
If we'd only known._

* * *

Phil was sitting between the agents when the door opened and Fury walked in.

"What do we know?" He asked.  
"Not much. They had bad intel and walked into an ambush."  
"Did you hear anything?" He could tell Fury didn't blame him, but there was still accusation in his voice.  
"I did. I sent in a chopper with backup, but it got shot to hell. No survivors."  
"Shit." Fury muttered. Phil just nodded his agreement.  
"Keep me updated." Fury ordered. Phil nodded, and watched his boss walk out.  
"What the hell happened?" He muttered, holding his head in his hands.

_"Widow, we're blown." I heard Clint say.  
"What?" I hissed while taking down the last guard to Kovács' inner rooms.  
"I don't know how it happened, but there's reinforcements coming." He replied.  
"What do you want me to do?" I asked. I knew what I wanted to do, but I was no longer on my own. I had to think about the repercussions of my actions.  
"Take him down. We'll have to fight our way out either way. I'll cover you."  
I nodded, not entirely sure if he was watching me or the advancing mercs._

_Actually taking down Kovács was much easier than infiltrating his organization. It was just a matter of getting close enough to him to snap his neck. I made it out just as the mercs rounded the corner.  
Well, shit.  
"Hawkeye, I'm coming out." I said as I ran through the building.  
"Where?" He asked.  
"Third floor window, west side." I said.  
"The hell?" He asked. Well, at least I'd finally managed to surprise him.  
"It'd be nice if you'd catch me."  
"Give me 10 seconds." He said. I heard his quiver's noises as he attached a specialized tip to an arrow.  
"Go." He said._

_I ran the five steps I'd given myself and threw myself out the window. I was falling for a couple seconds before I was close enough for him to catch me. We continued sailing through the air on the wire he'd shot._

_"Too close, Nat." He whispered against my temple, a second before I felt his lips lightly brush the same area.  
"Sorry." I murmured. We were on the ground then, and took off running. I could hear the mercs behind us, and I knew he heard them too. We turned down an alley and found ourselves at a dead end.  
"Fuck." I hissed.  
"Later." He replied cheekily. I shot him a look, but his smile was infectious and a second later, I could feel my own smile crossing my face. But then I was reminded of our situation._

_"We need cover." I said. Clint was already working. He'd shoved a dumpster into the middle of the alley, and was working on moving another one. When he was done, we crouched behind them and made a plan. We knew Kovács had an army, and that we weren't going to be able to keep them off for long. But we just needed to hold them back long enough for Phil to send help._

_"How much ammo do you have?" Clint asked.  
"7 clips, plus the 5 bullets in my gun." I responded instantly. "You?"  
"Full quiver. I managed to save the grappling arrow."  
I nodded. He'd already radioed in to Phil, but we both knew it would be a while. We heard the mercs approaching, it was now or never. Clint leaned over and pulled my face to his. He pressed his lips firmly against my own, and I reciprocated. I put all my love and trust into that kiss, hoping- and knowing- he'd pick up on it._

_"I love you." He whispered.  
"I love you too." I answered. And I meant it, I really did.  
Any other time I would have reminded him that love was for children, but there was a distinct possibility that we wouldn't make it out of this, and I wanted him to know.  
He traced my cheekbone once, and then we clicked back to the mission at hand. We popped up at the same time and began taking down the enemy._

_15 minutes later we knew we were screwed. I had 2 clips left, and Clint was retrieving arrows where he could.  
"We need to get out of here, Hawk." I said through gritted teeth.  
"Agreed." He replied while knocking an arrow._

_He let it fly, and grabbed my arm, pulling me to the ground next to him. We heard the arrow hit, and Clint hit a button on his bow, causing it to explode. Right away, we were up and running out of the alley. I fired a few shots at the idiots dumb enough to think we wouldn't be able to see them. Once we were out of the alley, we continued running. We climbed over walls and cars and anything else in our way. We managed to get onto a roof, but if there were any snipers we were screwed._

_"Right there, Widow." He called.  
"I see it." I called. We jumped into the bell tower, grateful for the protection. For as ruthless as the mercs were, many were too devout to attack in a church, which meant Clint and I had time to regroup. It had definitely saved our asses on multiple occasions. We sat in the choir loft patching each other up the best we could._

_"Hey, Nat?" He asked softly.  
"Yeah?"  
"Remember Kiev?"  
"I do. Why?"  
"Remember what you agreed to?" He asked again.  
I felt a smile on my lips. "I do."  
"We could do it here." He said. He sounded hopeful, like he thought I'd say no.  
"We could."  
"Want to?" He asked, sounding extremely insecure.  
"That was a stupid question." I said, watching as the smile spread over his features._

_He grabbed my hand and pulled us down from the loft.  
The church was empty, save for the priest. He looked terrified when he saw us, and that's when I remembered that we looked like hell.  
"Békével jöttünk." Clint said, hands out and palms open. "Van egy szívességet kérni tőled." He said. '_We mean no harm. We have a favor to ask of you.'  
_"What can I help you with?" The priest asked in broken English.  
"Marry us." Clint said simply.  
"It will not be legal with no witnesses." The priest replied.  
"We don't need witnesses. It'll be legal for us." I said, smiling at the old priest.  
"Then God shall be our only witness." He said as he led us to the altar._

_We opted not to say our vows in front of him, and we hadn't had a chance to pick rings out yet. The priest was unaffected by this, and after a short time, we were pronounced married. Clint kissed me with all the passion he could muster, and I returned it. We broke apart and made our way back to the loft to gather our supplies._

_We had a fight to finish._

* * *

Maria was the next person to enter the room. She smiled when she saw him and made her way over. He opened his arms and she situated herself on his lap resting her head on his chest.

"I take it this means you're not coming home tonight?" She whispered.  
"I'm sorry, Maria. I need to stay with them."  
"I know. I'll stay too."  
Phil smiled and kissed her head as he hugged her tighter.  
"Why is it always them, Phil?" Maria whispered a while later.  
"I wish I knew, Maria." He replied.

* * *

_I watched as Nat was fighting the mercs that had surrounded us. I was still firing shots, but since we'd gotten married a few moments ago, some primal instinct had taken over and had me constantly checking to make sure she was ok._

_"Focus, Hawk." I heard her say, and I shook myself. I refocused on the mercs in front of us and concentrated on taking them down._

_That's when it happened.  
I was taking out the mercs closing in on me, and I'd missed the one that slipped through. The next thing I knew, Natasha was on the ground, bleeding heavily._

_"Widow!" I called. I knew she wouldn't be able to respond, but I needed to hear her voice just the same.  
When I heard nothing, I flipped. I took on of my remaining arrows and used it to slit the throat of every last enemy. It was vicious, and soon I was covered in blood. But I didn't care. Natasha was dead for all I knew, and they needed to pay.  
When they were down, I ran to Natasha's side. She'd been shot in the chest, dangerously close to her heart. Her eyes were open, and I could see the fear in them. As soon as she saw me, the fear started leaving, replaced with love and trust. I was yelling furiously into my earpiece, telling Coulson to get us the hell out of Budapest._

_"Clint." Natasha whispered.  
"Hang on, Nat. Phil's coming. You'll be ok, baby." I said as I pulled her closer to my body, burrowing my face in her hair.  
"I love you, Clint." She whispered.  
"Save it, Nat. You owe me vows, remember? Don't think you're allowed to die on me without telling me that you promise to love me forever."  
"What if that's not one of them?" She joked.  
"Oh, God, Nat. Please don't say that. Please don't." I cried.  
"Sorry."  
I was about to respond when I felt something rip through my stomach. I turned slightly and saw one of the mercs stumbling away. I grabbed Natasha's gun from her hand and shot him in the back of the head, sending him down immediately.  
I knew blood was gushing from both of us, and as much as I wanted to stay conscious, I knew I wouldn't be able to hold on much longer. Luckily, I heard the SHIELD agents running toward us._

_About damn time, I thought as I allowed the black to take over, and lay down next to my wife.  
At least I finally got her to marry me._

* * *

Suddenly, Clint's monitor flat lined. Before Phil or Maria could react, Natasha's was going crazy.

* * *

_I felt the bullet rip through my chest. It hurt like hell, it always did. I heard Clint yell my name, and while I tried to respond, I found that I couldn't get enough air to communicate._

_I knew the probability of making it out of this wasn't good, and I was terrified. Not of dying- I'd been around death too long to fear death. I was afraid of dying without Clint next to me. I knew that if I wasn't currently gushing blood, I would have worried about why I needed him so close to me, but at the moment, I was gushing blood, and just wanted him to hold me. _

_Finally, I caught his eyes, and I started to relax. I could make out the sounds of him yelling, but I didn't pay much attention._

_"Clint." I whisered.  
"Hang on, Nat. Phil's coming. You'll be ok, baby." He said as he pulled me closer to his body, burrowing his face in my hair.  
"I love you, Clint." I whispered, choosing to overlook the baby remark.  
"Save it, Nat. You owe me vows, remember? Don't think you're allowed to die on me without telling me that you promise to love me forever."  
"What if that's not one of them?" I joked, trying to lighten the mood.  
"Oh, God, Nat. Please don't say that. Please don't." He cried.  
"Sorry." I replied. I was really tired, but I knew Clint wouldn't let me sleep._

_I heard his sharp intake of breath, and felt him tug the gun from my hands. I heard him shoot once, and heard a thud as a body fell to the ground. At the same time, I felt blood pouring from his side. Of course he'd get himself shot when I was lying here dying. Typical selfish man, I thought as he shifted to lie next to me. I knew the moment he blacked out, and it terrified me. So I kicked him as hard as I could manage, and felt the relief wash over me as he started awake. I closed my eyes as he looked at me, the meaning clear in them 'You take first watch.'  
Clint blinked once, and I knew he'd understood my message. We'd fight like hell to get back.  
After all, we had vows to exchange._

* * *

Almost as soon as their monitors started flipping out, it was over. Their heartbeats went back to normal and the alarms stopped. It was silent for a second; save for the constant beeping signaling that they were in fact still alive. And then they screamed.

"CLINT!" Natasha screamed.  
"NATASHA!" Clint screamed at the same time.

They both sat upright in their beds, sweaty and breathing heavily. They looked around wildly until their eyes landed on each other. Without a word, Clint pulled the IVs out of his arm and pulled the monitor cords from his chest. He got out of the bed, and Phil caught him as he stumbled. Clint leaned on him as Phil led him to Natasha's bed, and Natasha shifted to give him room to sit next to her. Phil helped him into the bed, and Clint immediately had his arms around Natasha's shoulders. Phi and Maria watched them for a moment before leaving the room.

As soon as she heard the door close and lock, Natasha allowed the tears to slip from her eyes.  
"Oh, God, Clint." She whispered.  
"I know, Nat. I know."  
He kissed her head repeatedly, pulling her tightly to him.  
"I love you." She whispered.  
"I love you too." He whispered back. Slowly, they both fell asleep.

* * *

Later when they gave the formal debrief of what the hell happened in Budapest, Clint wouldn't say that when he thought Natasha had died, he'd considered taking her gun and ending his own life, knowing it would be too painful to live without her, even though he had.  
Natasha wouldn't say that she'd forced herself to stay alive until she could see Clint's eyes one last time, and tell her she loved him again, even though that's the only reason she lasted as long as she did.  
And neither would say that the first vow they'd said together when they finally had some time alone was that they'd try to always come home, even though it was.

So whenever they said something was like Budapest, everyone assumed they meant that they were dangerously outnumbered and running low on ammo.  
Nobody would dream that it was their way of telling each other that they were terrified, and didn't know if they'd make it out again. But it was. To them, Budapest was the fear of losing each other.  
It wasn't a pleasant feeling by any stretch of the imagination.

* * *

**There you go! I hope you guys liked my take on what happened in Budapest, and I hope it wasn't too complicated to follow. It starts around evening one day, and they're in a coma for about 24 hours. I know it was probably hideously fake in terms of the medical stuff, but I'm not a doctor, so I'm allowed to not have it be accurate.  
Remember to let me know if there's anything you want me to add to this story before I end it.  
****Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


	20. Dover

**I had a request from anteffy1 for a mini-Clint, so here you go. I hope the rest of you don't go into a fluff induced coma. :)**

* * *

The first thing Clint Barton was aware of was the pain.  
It was absolutely excruciating. There wasn't a single part of him that didn't absolutely ache. He slowly opened his eyes, only to have to snap them shut again when the bright lights burned.  
_Figures. _He thought sullenly. _Whenever I wake up and can't remember where I am, I always end up in the hospital. Nat's gonna kill me._  
He tried opening his eyes again with slightly more success and was able to focus on something besides the massive pain he was feeling. He heard a beeping not very far away that indicated he was still alive, good news, he was sure.  
He found that moving his eyes didn't hurt as much as moving his whole head, so he used his peripheral vision to take in the room around him. When his eyes went to the left, he saw a flash of red hair and was comforted instantly by Natasha's presence.  
"Why's everything hurt?" Clint asked, his voice raspy from disuse.  
Natasha didn't seem surprised to hear him speak as she gave his body a once-over. "I had them take your morphine away after surgery. I figured you deserved to live with your stupid-ass mistake."  
"And uh, what happened?" Clint asked.  
Natasha sighed and set her book down. "You got shot and managed to set off one of your exploding arrows. I swear, Clint, I might ban any and all types of specialized arrow tips if you don't stop getting hurt. You'll have to stick with regular tips, just like the cavemen that invented your archaic weapon."  
"That's harsh, Tasha." Clint said.  
"Yeah, well I'm tired of seeing you nearly get yourself killed. And I'm sure as hell sick of explaining it to our kids."  
Clint paused in his retort, and Natasha carried on.  
"Look, Clint. I know you like being in the field, but this is getting to be too much. You're not quite as young as you used to be, and every time I get a call that you're in here, I lose about 5 years off my life-span."  
"What are you saying, Tasha?" Clint asked.  
Natasha sighed again as she rubbed a hand over her face before lacing her fingers through his. "I'm saying you should think about retiring."  
"Tasha-"  
"Clint, please. I can't keep waiting up at night wondering if you're coming home or not. It was bad enough when Ali and Anja were little and it was both of us going out, but at least we had each other."  
"They're older now, Tasha. Ali will be 16 in a few weeks, and Anja's nearly 10."  
"They're older, yes, but what about Niky? What am I supposed to tell him when you don't come home one day? How am I supposed to tell him that it's his turn to be the man of the house? Because you know that's what he'd want to do."  
Clint paused again. Their son was only 5, how could he leave him when he was so young?  
"That's what I thought. Look, I'm not saying you have to decide now. I'm just saying that at some point you're going to need to decide where your priorities are. Because at the rate you're going, you won't make it until he turns 7."  
Before Clint could reply, the door opened and three of Clint's four favorite people walked in.  
"Hi, guys." He said softly.  
Anja smiled at him as she made her way over and gave him a kiss on the cheek. Ali looked him over with a disappointed look on her face while Nikita was doing his best to get out of his eldest sister's arms and into his father's.  
"Papa!" He cried gleefully.  
Clint held his arms out, ignoring the pain that seared through his body. "Hey, Niky. You being a good boy?"  
Niky smiled as he managed to get into his father's arms. Clint ran his hand through his son's hair, respiking the parts that looked a little off.  
"Who did your hair, dude?" Clint asked.  
"Me!" Niky replied, sounding very proud of himself.  
Clint smiled at his son and couldn't help wondering if Natasha was right.  
At 5 years old, the youngest Barton child looked exactly like his father. He had the same hair and eye color and insisted on doing his hair like Clint did. He only wore black because it was the color of Clint's uniform, and he always carried a toy bow with him, vowing that when he was allowed to learn to use a real one, he'd carry it with him wherever he went.  
As Niky continued talking to him, Clint looked over at Natasha and saw her sitting in the chair next to his bed with Anja on her lap and Ali standing next to her. Anja seemed happy to have Clint back home and awake, but Ali looked more annoyed than Clint could ever remember seeing her. She kept glaring at Clint, only softening her features when her brother looked to her for confirmation during his stories.  
Natasha had the same look on her face that Ali did, and as her eyes locked on Clint's her question was clear.  
_Do you really want to miss any part of his life? Do you want to risk not seeing him grow up?_

As Clint looked at his wife and listened to his son's fantastical imagination at work, he realized his answer.  
"No, Tasha, I don't. I'll tell Fury in the morning." Clint whispered, earning pleased looks from Anja, Ali, and Natasha, and a confused look from Niky.  
Niky reached out and poked Clint's cheek lightly to get his attention.  
"What, Papa?"  
"I'm not going back to the field, buddy. Not unless the Avengers need me. But in two years, I'm gonna be done for good."  
"Then it's my turn?" Niky asked, causing Natasha to pale slightly.  
"No. It won't be your turn."  
"But I wanna be like you, Papa! You're brave! And you fight bad guys! Why can't I be like you?"  
"You can be, but not until you're older. Ok, Buddy?"  
Niky nodded and went back to his story, telling Clint about the dinosaur he found in the toilet.  
Clint laughed along with his family, and he knew, in that moment, that he'd made the right choice. He wasn't going to miss his son's life. Not if he could help it.

* * *

**There you go! I hope you guys liked the mini Clint, and anteffy1, I hope he met your expectations.  
If any of you guys have ideas for one-shots you want me to add to this, feel free to leave a review!  
Please go to my profile and answer the poll I've posted (if you haven't already.) I think there are answers for everyone out there, so please cast your vote!  
Reviews are wonderful. You should write one. :)**


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